ITS THE GERMANS

Tonight an England plays Germany in the UEFA Nations League Group A3, away at The Allianz Arena. By all accounts the Germans have as many issues with injuries as Gareth does! However, Germany are unbeaten in 10 games since Hansi Flick became top coach, following England's defeat of the Germans at Euro 2020. It would be fun to reproduce the 5-1 victory for England in Munich, 2001, when Michael Owen scored a hat trick; however, Germany ended up in the World Cup Final, England didn't. 

On 18 April 1897, an early international game for Germany was played in Hamburg, when a selection team from the Danish FA defeated a selection team from the Hamburg-Altona FA 5–0. In the 1899-01 era there were five unofficial friendlies played, all ending in large defeats for the Germans.

The Germany national football team the Deutsche Fußballnationalmannschaft or Die Mannschaft, played its first official match in 1908. Matches were played against "Germany" from 1930.

Between 1949 and 1990, separate German national teams were recognised by FIFA due to Allied Occupation and Division. The German team representing the Federal Republic of Germany, (named West Germany from 1949 to 1990); the Saarland Team representing the Saar Protectorate (1950–1956); and the East German team representing the German Democratic Republic(1952–1990). The present team represents the reunified Federal Republic. The official name and code "Germany FR (FRG)" was shortened to "Germany (GER)" following the reunification in 1990.

Germany has won World Cups in 1954 (then West Germany), 1974, 1990, 2014, three European Championships 1972, 1980, 1996 and one Confederations Cup 2017  They have also been runners-up three times in the European Championships, four times in the World Cup, and a further four third-place finishes at World Cups. East Germany won Olympic in 1990. Germany is the only nation to have won both the FIFA Men's and Women's World Cup. At the end of the 2014 World Cup, So there is some pedigree.

The Germans played their first international as the DFB against Switzerland in April 1908 in Basel. In 1920 the Swiss were the first opposition for the post 1st World War German side and again in 1950 the Swiss were chosen to bring the Germans back into the footballing fraternity after World War 2. In 1990 the German side including the new East German Association also played the Swiss, once the "wall came down".

The official historic England results list shows the Germans winning 15 matches and England 14, with 4 draws, surprisingly only 33 games between the two.

The first official engagement was May 10th 1930, in The Deutsches Stadium, with a 3-3 draw in Berlin. Job Mutters reffed and 60,000 watched. Joe Bradford (below) of Birmingham City scored 2 and David Jack of Arsenal, the other.

Next England hosted them in 1935, winning 3-0. By 1938, national captain Eddie Hapgood and the heroic Stanley Matthews were amongst a reputedly strong English side to meet the Germans in Berlin again, a nation under Hitler's control. The players were "told" by an FA Official, Charles Wreford Brown (an Old Carthusian), to acknowledge the German leader by giving the salute before the match. 140,000 watched this episode as Nazi Germany showed off and then England "showed off" by thumping them 6-3. This was belittling for Hitler and later, on the same sports' field, his "super race" also were shown up at the Berlin Olympics by the black American athlete, Jesse Owens. Another story!

By 1938, Austria became part of Germany under the Anschluss (the annexing of Austria into Nazi Germany) and since the Austrians at the time were a major force in European football, the Germans benefited from this injection of talent. However it did not help in the 1938 World Cup, as the Germans lost on aggregate to Switzerland...there they are again!

England and "Germany" met again in 1954 but by this time it was West Germany. England won 3-1 with Len Shackleton, Roy Bentley and Ronnie Allen scoring in front of 100,000 at Wembley.
Since then, there have been regular fixtures with World Cup ties in 1966 (Final! 4-2 win), 1970 Germany won 3-2, 1982 (Draw 0-0), 1990 (Draw 1-1), 2000 (England 0-1 Germany) and recently there have been friendly games in 2016,  2-3 to England and 2017, 0-0 and on June 29th 2021, England won 2-0 in the UEFA Championship.