Germany 1–5 England (2001)

Germany 1–5 England was a famous football match held at the Olympiastadion in Munich on September 1, 2001. It was a qualification match for the 2002 World Cup. Despite only being a qualification match, the game is widely considered to be one of the greatest results in English footballing history, especially amongst fans of the English national football team. It is also regarded as one of the English football team's best performances under Swedish coach Sven-Göran Eriksson.

Context

The two sides have met on a number of important occasions in their footballing histories.

They had played in the 1966 FIFA World Cup Final at Wembley Stadium, in which England had beaten West Germany (considered the predecessor to the modern German team by FIFA) 4-2 after extra time. Revenge came just four years later, in the quarter-final of the World Cup 1970 in Mexico when the English side forfeited a comfortable 2-0 lead only to lose 2-3 in extra-time. West Germany then defeated England in the semi-final of the 1990 competition, this time on penalties. In Euro 96 Germany again defeated England in a semi-final on penalties. In the two years before the game, England had beaten Germany at Euro 2000 signifying the first win in tournament after a 40-year-drought, followed by a German win in October 2000 in the last ever match at England's home stadium of Wembley, before it was closed for redevelopment.

In the qualifying tournament prior to the game, Germany were clear group leaders. With only the group winners advancing directly to the 2002 FIFA World Cup, the pre-game qualifying group table was:

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References

* [http://www.englandfootballonline.com/Seas2000-10/2001-02/M0782Ger2001.html Game report and stats at England football online]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/1515667.stm BBC report on the game]