Ruthless Germany expose England's frailties

ROUND OF 16: GERMANY 4 ENGLAND 1:NOT QUITE a case of Deutschland über alles; more like Germany after all for in the wake of so much speculation regarding England's chances of putting one over on their old rivals, Joachim Loew's men revelled instead in the opportunity to put four past them.

The English had spent a portion of their build-up to this game practicing penalties but the notion that they could take this young and purposeful German side anywhere near that in Bloemfontein turned out to be fanciful.

A long list of English deficiencies were ruthlessly exposed by a stronger, faster and just plain superior German team that scored twice in each half courtesy of Miroslav Klose, Lukas Podolski and Thomas Müller (twice) to sweep their opponents out of this World Cup.

Howevee, Fabio Capello and his men exit the competition with a hard luck story for consolation after the Uruguayan referee failed to award them what should have been an equaliser seven minutes before half-time; Frank Lampard’s shot having clearly crossed the line after clattering against the underside of the crossbar.

Capello seized on the incident afterwards as the decisive moment and there is no doubt that it was a terrible blow at a time when they were having their best spell. Only the more delusional amongst their fans, though, will still be clinging to the idea this morning that this remarkably mediocre team deserved to be a part of the business end of this tournament.

It remains to be seen whether the Germans are actually good enough themselves to live with the likes of Spain or Brazil but they were streets ahead of England; having less of the ball, perhaps, but doing so much more with it from beginning to end.

At the back they almost never looked troubled by the English strike force of Wayne Rooney and Jermain Defoe with Arne Freidrich and Philipp Lahm impressive even if the former might have been a little lucky to stay on after checking Rooney midway through the second half when already on a booking.

In midfield, they were totally dominant with Bastian Schweinsteiger and Sami Khedira both outstanding while only Lampard emerged with any credit for England. In addition to the goal he should have had, the Chelsea midfielder struck the crossbar from distance and almost converted a rare cross from James Milner early on.

England’s greatest problems were undoubtedly in defence where the Germans simply dismantled them. Gareth Barry’s attempt to provide any sort of defensive shield in front of the back four was lamentable while the two centre halves proved incapable of coping with the speed of the passing and movement produced by Klose and his three man supporting cast; Podolski, Müller and Mesut Özil.

At one stage Germany looked to be cruising and looked like adding to their advantage every time they came within striking distance of David James’s area.

Against a team often derided down the years for resorting to the long ball, their first goal had been gloriously route one with goalkeeper Manuel Neuer hoofing the ball downfield where it soared over John Terry for Matthew Upson and Klose to run after. The Englishman briefly looked to have the upperhand but the German striker simply outmuscled him to poke it past the onrushing David James.

The English goalkeeper fared better 10 minutes later, saving this time with an outstretched foot after Klose had again shrugged his marker but he was helpless a couple of minutes after when Müller again opened up a ridiculously porous defence with a firmly driven pass to Podolski on the left.

In the centre, the defenders arriving in the six-yard box, clearly expected a cross and jumped forward instead of getting behind the advancing James whose legs Podolski coolly fired between from a tight angle to double his side’s lead.

Briefly, it seemed that England might be on the brink of collapse but they bounced back, Upson getting up well to head home Steven Gerrard’s cross after the Germans had failed to adequately clear a corner. Within two minutes they should have been level as their opponents, looking shaken all of a sudden, stood off Lampard whose fine long-range shot cleared the line by a yard after hitting the crossbar but then bounced back out again.

The failure of the referee and his assistant to give the goal was, said Müller, a stroke of “good fortune that we were determined to make the most of”. He certainly played his part as they did just that after the break with the 20-year-old Bayern Munich midfielder getting both of his side’s goals. The first came after Barry lost possession on the edge of the German box allowing Scwheinsteiger to break down the left hand side before cutting in and setting his team-mate up for a close range shot that James got a hand to but couldn’t keep out.

The second, Germany’s fourth, followed three minutes minutes later, Barry this time being left for dead by Özil who did all the hardwork before teeing up Müller’s powerful drive from close range.