The 10 best England team performances in the Premier League era

#5 Germany 2-3 England – International Friendly, 2016

In similar fashion to England’s rivalry with Argentina, there are no true ‘friendly’ games between England and Germany, despite a healthy level of respect always existing between the two sides.

There’s simply too much history between the nations for it not to be a big deal. Coming into the March 2016 showdown between the two, Germany had won the previous 2 fixtures, most notably thumping England 4-1 in the 2010 World Cup.

England manager Roy Hodgson was without some key players, namely, captain Wayne Rooney and midfielders, Jack Wilshere and, Raheem Sterling. So he named a somewhat experimental side based around the young Tottenham spine of Eric Dier, Dele Alli, and Harry Kane. It was an experiment that ended up delivering, big time.

From the opening moments of the game, it was clear that England’s gameplan was to press the Germans as hard as possible, not allowing them any time on the ball and look to catch them on the break, essentially, the tactics executed by Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham side.

It actually worked as Germany never seemed comfortable, even when they took a two-goal lead with goals from Toni Kroos and Mario Gomez.

Usually, after taking a 2-0 lead, Germany would be expected to see a game out, even a friendly. But, when Harry Kane pulled one back for the 'Three Lions', following a slick Cruyff turn in the box and, substitute Jamie Vardy backheeled in from Nathaniel Clyne’s cross to equalise, it always felt like there would only be one winner.

Alli thought he had scored it, when he simply needed to poke the ball into an empty net following Vardy’s mugging of Jonathan Tah, only to sky his shot, but with injury time ticking away, Dier rose to head a Jordan Henderson corner into the net, securing a remarkable victory.

The potential England showed in this game was never realized at that summer’s Euro 2016. Hodgson simply wasn’t decisive enough to stick to this gameplan rather than reintroduce Rooney. But, it showed that England’s young stars had the world at their feet, something Gareth Southgate will be looking to prove this summer.