I can hardly type this post because my hands are shaking.
This result puts England in pole position for automatic qualification for next year’s World Cup finals.
Some statistics. Germany had only lost one qualifying match (out of sixty played) at home in the history of the competition. England last beat Germany away in 1965, and have only beaten Germany once (I think) since 1966.
OK it’s just one game. But after many humiliations at the hands of Germany over a period of decades, I think that tonight we have a nation in a state of euphoria.
5-1. Jancker for Germany, Owen (3), Heskey & Gerrard for England. I almost cannot believe this.
I didn’t watch the match, couldn’t imagine we could win, maybe a draw if we were lucky.
I liked the post match interview with Erikkson, he was pleased but not delirious and was already looking to the Albania match, clearly he keeps his head.
How 'bout Ireland then ?
Ruadh should be along any moment, great result eh?
Poor old Holland will not be in the world cup, major, major shock.
Brian Moore died? Bugger. That kind of puts a pall on the result.
Great game, great result. Shame about the wankers determined to turn it into World War III, and shame Mr Moore (who, according to a famous fanzine, has a head uncannily like the London Planetarium) couldn’t be there to witness it.
Foreigners can be awarded an (honorary) knighthood.
(Sir) Bob Geldof was given a KBE in 1986 for services to charitable causes (Live Aid etc). Bob is Irish.
(Sir) Caspar Weinberger received his KBE in 1988 for ‘services to British interests’, most notably during the Falklands War. Yes, US citizens are eligible.
I think that there is some restriction on the use of the appellation but I do not know what this is.
Back on topic, I do not think Sven should be knighted until the qualifiers against Albania (September 5) and Greece (October 6) have been played and, hopefully, won.
It would be a shame to knight him one month and fire him the next. Such is the precarious profession of the football manager.
Don’t read the tabs myself of course, but I’ve had a little browse so you don’t have to ;). Predictable stuff all round, but nothing too hysterical about Sven-Goran personally just yet. It’s all about Owen.
The Sun “Voted UK’s No1 website” - doesn’t say who by…
“England are Svensational” The match report is also full of puns as you’d expect. The divvy readers are invited to send in their comments: “We want to see your views so we can print them” (trans. = “We can’t even be arsed to write our own copy”)
The Mirror
No match report at all - just predictions about what’s going to happen! Hello Dopey, they’ve already played!
The Daily Star
More dreadful punning headlines, but too idle to write their own report apparently - their link just jumps to sports.com
News of the World
“DON’T MENTION THE SCORE” “A MONSTERING IN MUNICH” “Sing Sven you’re winning!” “SVEN-SATION” “TOO HAT TO HANDLE” and much, much more like that.
That’s as far as I stooped.
BTW, Yep, they could give Sven a knighthood (some bookies are offering 10-1 apparently), but being foreign he couldn’t call himself “Sir” on his letterhead. He must be sad about that.
To GIGObuster: Everybody has underestimated Finland from the start, and they’ve given both England and Germany a tough time so far, so who knows? What if they score six!!!
I think that all the predictions of Nostradamus hitherto have been rational compared to this stunning scoreline. And it is always good to hear of football supporters in the US.
Germany have a month to recover before they play Finland. Who can predict what the score will be?
Also the English, hysterical though we now may be, have learned through experience not to assume victory over lesser teams.
We still have Albania and Greece to overcome. Everything here is crossed.
Hell yeah. Then again, we have ourselves to blame. You can’t go on qualifying for major tournaments at the very last opportunity, which is exactly what we’ve been doing since 1988 now. At one point, your luck runs out. It’s time Holland starts playing brilliant and effective football when the qualifiers start, not when the tournament starts. Hats off to the Irish, and I hope they go far.
And of course, Ingurlund! Fantastic result. This looks like a team that can finally make it to the final rounds of a tournament again. My goodness, Michael Owen kicks arse. You guys beat Germany on pure quality. Great football, I enjoyed it immensely. Even though I was a bit sad over Hollands disqualification, and I still am.
Of course the Germany v England and Ireland v Holland matches were not the only surprise results yesterday. How about Slovenia 2 Russia 1, or Iceland 3 Czech Rep 1? Some of the other groups are still wide open.
Congrats to Poland too on qualifying first out of Europe, but didn’t Norway have a decent tournament side a little while ago? What’s happened to them?
No offense to any Norwegians out there, but the only way Norway ever got into a tournament was by putting 11 lads on the goal line during the qualifiers. Decent? Yeah, I guess, in that I-wanna-tear-my-eyeballs-out-if-these-ijits-don’t-start-playing-footie-right-bloody-now way.
I disagree. Norway have for the last 10 years or so played some absolutely stunning football in the qualifiers, winning games by several goals and displaying realy skill. Then they get to the tournament and you can almost see them thinking “Er, we’re playing with the big boys now… we better defend” and they turn into Dull Utd. It’s always driven me nuts.
But they no longer have Olsen managing them. 'Nuff said.
And on to more important things. Like 5-1. I phoned my German mate (living in London) just before the match and jokingly said I’d call him back after we’d stuffed 'em. Then he said he thought England would win and I predicted a low scoring draw. Hah!
I certainly did phone him back after the match. Although mysteriously I couldn’t get through for about half an hour. He says he was on the internet. Hmm.
Funny enough though, I can’t get tooo excited. The 4-1 win over Holland in Euro 96 was, to my mind, much better. In Sat’s match, England looked very defensively shaky. But then, they looked very good going forward, which I suppose is the important thing.
Anyway, I was one of those people singing Sven’s praises when England appointed him, so I’m finding it most amusing watching the tabloids backtrack. Did you notice the billboard at the match “Sven Goran Erik SUN”? Changed their tune somewhat, eh?
