More than 800 days since Wembley played host to that infamous summer evening in July of 2022, England and Germany reunited under the arch on Friday night.
There should be no confusion, this was no rematch, instead a look as to where these two giants of the game find themselves less than a year out from the 2025 European Championships. Neither team looks the same as they did two years ago, with a whole host of retirements, two different FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 campaigns, and a new coach for the German side, collectively suggested that the sides needed to put their history behind them and look ahead to their strategy for Switzerland.
Each of the six previous national team managers for the German side had won their opening game, so Christian Wück had quite the statistic to live up to on his debut, and that he did. In arguably one of the worst team performances under Sarina Weigman, England conceded four goals in a home game for the first time since 1997, when they let in six, also against Germany. It was an evening the reigning champions will look to forget, despite the spectacle of goals, penalties and offside calls galore, the narrow scoreline fails to represent the ruthlessness of the German side that left the English mightily exposed.
The Lineups
ENG: Hampton, Bronze, Carter, Walsh, Bright, Williamson, Mead, Stanway, Russo, Toone, Hemp.
GER: Berger, Linder, Minge, Nüsken, Gwinn, Dallmann, Bühl, Senss, Brand, Doorsoun, Hoffmann.
The Action
In an attempt to give her a deserved tribute following her decision to retire this summer, Stephanie Houghton – ex-Lionesses captain and renowned trailblazer for women’s football in England – was honoured by the FA prior to last night’s kick-off to mark the legacy she leaves behind both on and off the pitch. As a fitting last dance, she was given the opportunity to lead out the Lionesses – who donned black armbands for the duration of the game, in honour of Nick Toone [Ella Toone’s father] who passed away at the beginning of September.
The Halfway Line sends love and support to the Toone family during this time.
A game of ebbs and flows definitely started in favour of the visitors, and an early counter attack by the German outfit foreshadowed just how the evening would go. Linda Dallmann got in and behind a little too easily amid kick-off and when Millie Bright made the conscious choice to nudge her off the ball inside the penalty area, a yellow card was brandished for the Englishwoman and a penalty awarded to the travelling side. Captain Guilia Gwinn made no mistakes, tucking the ball into the bottom left hand corner giving her side the lead inside the first two minutes.
Persistence by Alessio Russo at the other end gave England their first meaningful spell of possession, with Lucy Bronze at the heart of a combination of one-twos, but nothing materialised of the play. That was until Ella Toone found herself on the end of a chipped ball, there were shouts for offside but her selfless back heel saw Russo send the net rippling before the flag was raised and the celebrations halted.
That moment of confusion could be blamed for the lapse in concentration amidst an instant counter attack by the German side, where a long ball that spanned the length of the pitch found Gwinn unmarked in acres of space and she doubled her team’s lead inside 15 minutes without hesitation.
A chance for England to get one back saw the Lionesses commit one too many players forward, and as Toone was run out of play, the German recovery saw another counter attack down field. The splitting of the defence saw Bronze left alone to defend against the onrushing Klara Bühl, who slotted a third past Hannah Hampton inside the first thirty minutes.
As the DFB-Frauenteam tried to repeat their fast break, a triple tackle by the Lionesses saw them successfully cut the ball out and free Russo – a comfortable lead and a chance for England to get one back saw the German side have no hesitation to put the ball out. The throw earned an English corner, where claims of handball against Gwinn were initially waved away before VAR intervened and the referee was sent to the monitor where she duly awarded England a chance to get on the scoresheet. Despite going the correct way, Georgia Stanway effortlessly slotted the ball into the side netting and beyond the reach of Ann-Katrin Berger.
The English were able to recover swiftly as Germany broke yet again, the ball found Russo in the middle of the park who offloaded wide to Beth Mead on the right flank. Mead’s nearly flawless cross put the ball on a plate for Stanway, almost exactly at the penalty spot she had score from just minutes earlier, who struck with venom into the roof of the goal and reduced the deficit to one in the space of three minutes.
The half ended with a visionary rocket shot from Gwinn on the halfway line who noticed Hampton’s tendency to drift out of her area. But full credit to the English goalkeeper – given the nod again ahead of FIFA Best Goalkeeper of the year winner Mary Earps – who produced a ‘worldie’ on the retreat and was able to claw the ball just over the crossbar.
A lovely build up of play by the German outfit early inside the second half saw them glide down the right flank with little interruption. The release of Gwinn was deflected well by Williamson’s low block, but the rebound was straight into the path of Janina Minge, who had an open goal to slot the ball home before the offside flag spared the English blushes.
The second half served as a reminder of how the Germans seem to have perfected the combination of pace and persistence, evidently driven by an animated Wück in his technical area. For a large period of the latter 45 minutes, England found themselves on the back foot, tirelessly defending the width of the pitch following rapid turnovers.
Gwinn consistently found herself free on the flanks, pulling the strings from the widest areas of the pitch despite her occasional errors of judgement, whilst England’s haste often left them scarce at the back, and they were fortunate that the German side failed to capitalise on this on multiple occasions. Minge was again given a chance to get her name on the scoresheet but her attempt on goal was well blocked by Hampton during a one-on-one, whilst moments later Bühl found herself looking dangerous as she drifted inwards before sending her shot wide of the post.
A high boot from Greenwood saw Germany awarded a free kick just outside the area. Hampton’s indecision the claim the ball paired with a lovely floating cross by Bühl meant it was no surprise that players got entangled inside the box. A supposed high boot from Russo in the proceedings left Pia-Sophie Wolter on the floor and the third penalty of the evening was controversially awarded. Substitute Sara Dabritz was given the honours, and she made no mistake planting the ball down the bottom right corner well beyond the grasp of Hampton.
An incredible display of patience by Lauren Hemp saw her through on goal after cutting infield before sending the ball straight into the top corner of the net as the offside flag was raised yet again. She did, however, get her goal contribution minutes later as her free kick caused an uncharacteristic spillage by Berger at the back post where Bronze was waiting to pounce to reduce the deficit back to one with ten minutes of normal time still to play.
England earned themselves two further free kicks as the ninety drew to a close, the first by substitute Jessica Naz who did impeccably to drive goalward beyond Sophia Kleinherne who sent her tumbling after a frustrated tug, and the second by Jess Carter who found herself shoved by Vivien Endemann after receipt of an Alex Greenwood long ball, but neither free kick was clinical enough to find the net, and as the whistle blew the English tasted defeat.
Looking Forward
England are back in action next week as they travel to the Midlands where they will take on South Africa, in their second friendly of this international break, at the Coventry Building Society Arena at 19:45 BST on Tuesday.
Germany are also back in action next week, they return home to Duisburg where they will take on Australia, in what will be a rematch of their Olympic group stage fixture, at the Schauinsland-Reisen-Arena at 17:10 CET on Monday.
