Five classic clashes between England and Germany

England 4-2 West Germany (AET) July 1966, Wembley, FIFA World Cup final

Bobby Moore lifts the World Cup trophy as other English players join in with the celebrations

Arguably the most high profile meeting between the two sides, this victory remains greatest ever accomplishment and one that was meant to assert their dominance and superiority for years to come. The game itself was one for the ages. West Germany opened the scoring in 12^th minute and all it did, was spark England into life as Geoff Hurst scored the first of his three goals barely a few minutes as clawed their way back into the game.

When England scored again towards the end of the game, many thought that that was it. But a 90^th minute goal from Germany meant that the game went into extra time, where two controversial goals from Geoff Hurst sealed his hat-trick and England’s first and only World Cup till date. After the final whistle blew, there were scenes of jubilation, that haven’t been seen since. This was the peak for England as their record against the Germans slowly slipped away and have beaten the Germans only twice in competitive games since.

England 2-3 West Germany (AET) June 1970, León, FIFA World Cup QF

By the time the quarter finals came around, West Germany had finally managed to beat England for the first time, in a friendly in 1978. The Germans were determined to redeem themselves after their defeat in the Final last time around and were struggling to take the game to England as they were down 2-0 with barely a half of the game to play. However, the Germans stormed back into the game thanks to goals from Beckenbauer and Uwe Seeler which levelled the score at 2-2 with just eight minutes left on the clock.

And by the time Gerd Muller scored in extra-time, England had a Geoff Hurst goal mysteriously disallowed. Spirited as the German comeback was, England were without their No.1 Gordon Banks and also had to substitute their best player Bobby Charlton and were severely depleted by the time Muller scored the winner. That win marked the start of two decades of Germany’s dominance and England’s decline.

England 1 West Germany 1 (AET) (West Germany win 4-3 on penalties ) July 1990, Turin, FIFA World Cup SF

Not many expected England to make it to the semifinals of the World Cup in 1990. But, they did and came up against a strong German side managed by Franz Beckenbauer. Up until the game, England didn’t play too well, but against the Germans, they looked inspired and even though they went a goal down on the hour mark, they equalized in the 80^th minute thanks to a Gary Lineker goal, which sent the game into extra-time.

It was here that David Platt had a goal ruled out, which meant that the game went into a penalty shoot-out, making it the first time England had been involved in a shoot-out. With the first seven kicks all being converted, Stuart Pearce stepped up to level the score at 4-4, but he missed, which meant that it was advantage West Germany. But, after the next spot kick was saved, Chris Waddle had the opportunity to send the game into sudden death, but he missed and England lost the game, whilst West Germany went onto beat Argentina in the final and claim the World Cup.