Germany

1-2

England

Helmes 63

 

Upson 23, Terry 84


International Friendly
7.45pm (GMT), Wednesday 19 November 2008
Olympic Stadium, Berlin
Live on ITV1

England inflicted defeat on Germany for the first time in a year on Wednesday evening, when goals from central defenders Matthew Upson and John Terry sealed a deserved victory in Berlin.

Germany hadn't been beaten inside the Olympic Stadium in their capital since 1973 and their only defeat in the last 12 months came when they were beaten by Spain in the final of Euro 2008, but Fabio Capello's team won their fifth straight game to change that record in what was a fluid and determined performance from start to finish from The Three Lions.

The visitors outlined their intentions from the off and started the game with real purpose, with Jermain Defoe denied inside two minutes by an offside flag as debutant Gabriel Agbonlahor looked to set the Pompey striker through on goal.

England continued to look in confident mood during the opening period as Stewart Downing showed some fine footwork, and Agbonlahor looked assured in possession and dangerous with his pace.

At the other end, David James thwarted the first attack from Germany as he plunged to block an inswinging cross from Piotr Trochowski before Gareth Barry cleared the lines.

Shaun Wright-Phillips went close with a left-footed effort from 20 yards out, but after the first corner was deflected wide, England took the lead from the second with Matthew Upson grabbing his first goal for his country.

Downing delivered the corner and as the ball evaded the German goalkeeper Rene Adler, Upson stabbed the ball home (pictured left) from point blank range to send the 7,000 travelling England fans delirious.

Germany inevitably pressed their home advantage and put James under pressure in a bid to draw level, but it could have been 2-0 to the visitors with ten minutes remaining in the first period when Agbonlahor broke into the box to score only to see his effort ruled out by an offside flag.

On the stroke of half-time, Downing came close to crowning an excellent first 45 minutes with a rasping effort that Adler did well to punch clear.

Capello introduced two players for the second period, with Scott Carson replacing James in goal and Darren Bent coming into the attack in place of Defoe.

Downing went close once more with another powerful shot from the left flank, but this time it went narrowly wide.

On the hour mark, Bent could have made it 2-0 but spurned a good chance after doing all the hard work to round German substitute goalkeeper Tim Wiese, only to mis-kick wide with an open goal at his mercy.

Unfortunately for England, from the restart Germany levelled the scores following something of a defensive mix-up between Terry and Carson.

From a long through ball, Terry and Carson didn't clear a dropping ball between them and Patrick Helmes pounced for a simple finish.

England responded well though and Agbonlahor went close moments after the re-start when he muscled his way in on goal only to fire his effort into the side netting.

Downing then almost put England ahead from a free-kick just outside the area, as Wiese fumbled the ball in wet conditions but Germany were able to clear the loose ball.

As the rain teamed down, it looked more likely that a slip or fortunate bounce might decide an enthralling match, with players from both sides losing their footing on a fast but slippery surface.

England continued to push for a winner and Wright-Phillips came close when he hit the post with an outstanding right footed effort, after Bent showed great poise in holding the ball up front.

The Manchester City winger's shot had Wiese beaten only to crash back off the post and even drew applause from the home fans.

Two minutes later though and England were deservedly back ahead, with captain fantastic Terry climbing highest in the area to head home from a precise Stewart Downing free-kick.

The Germans tried in vain to get back into it, but with Terry and Upson proving to be in unforgiving mood at both ends of the pitch, England saw out the rest of the game the added time with relative comfort to seal a memorable victory.

Teams

England
1 David James (12 Scott Carson, 46), 2 Glen Johnson, 3 Wayne Bridge, 4 Gareth Barry, 5 Matthew Upson, 6 John Terry (C) 7 Shaun Wright-Phillips (20 Peter Crouch, 90) 8 Michael Carrick, 9 Jermain Defoe (Darren Bent, 46), 10 Stewart Downing, 11 Gabriel Agbonlahor (19 Ashley Young, 77)

Substitutes
13 Joleon Lescott, 14 Micah Richards, 15 Michael Mancienne, 16 Curtis Davies, 17 Scott Parker, 18 Jimmy Bullard, 22 Paul Robinson

Manager
Fabio Capello

Germany
1 Rene Adler (12 Tim Wiese, 46), 3 Arne Friedrich (4 Serdar Tasci, 68), 5 Heiko Westermann, 6 Simon Rolfes, 7 Bastian Schweinsteiger, 8 Jermaine Jones (13 Marko Marin, 46), 11 Miroslav Klose (c) (Patrick Helmes, 46) 14 Piotr Trochowski, 16 Marvin Compper (19 Marcel Schafer, 78), 17 Per Mertesacker, 18 Mario Gomez (10 Lukas Podolski, 57) 

Substitutes
2 Andreas Hinkel, 15 Thomas Hitzlsperger, 20 Tobias Weis

Manager
Joachim Low