England v Germany at Wembley... the story so far

Eric Dier, Danny Rose and Kieran Trippier are preparing for the next instalment of the age-old England-Germany rivalry at our temporary home of Wembley Stadium, connected by EE, on Friday.

It may be a friendly and the Three Lions may be depleted by a raft of injuries, but this fixture always throws up a fiercely competitive game – just ask Eric and Danny themselves!

When the two nations met in Munich back in March, 2016, left-back Danny made his England debut and Eric popped up with the winning goal in stoppage time to give the Three Lions a famous 3-2 victory.

This time, though, England are the hosts in what is the 12th international match between the two countries to have been held at Wembley down the years.

Here, as we anticipate what Friday’s clash will bring, we take a look back at the previous 11 encounters – some of which saw Spurs players in the thick of the action…

December 1, 1954
Friendly
England 3 (Bentley 27, Allen 48, Shackleton 80)
West Germany 1 (Beck 75)

Ironically, England’s first-ever match against Germany on these shores was played at… White Hart Lane! Two goals from George Camsell and one from Cliff Bastin gave England a 3-0 win in N17 in December, 1935, but it was 19 years later before Wembley staged a game between the two teams. On that occasion, Roy Bentley and Ronnie Allen put England 2-0 ahead before Alfred Beck pulled one back for the visitors, but Len Shackleton settled the outcome of the friendly match.

February 23, 1966
Friendly
England 1 (Stiles 41)
West Germany 0

As both teams looked ahead to the summer’s World Cup in this year, they played a friendly at Wembley Stadium which was considerably less dramatic than their next encounter – midfielder Nobby Stiles scoring the only goal of the game.

July 30, 1966
World Cup Final
England 4 (Hurst 18, 102, 120, Peters 78)
West Germany 2 (Haller 12, Weber 90)
(after extra time)

Five months later, England and West Germany played out arguably their most memorable and significant match – at least certainly from an English perspective! Managers Alf Ramsey and Helmut Schon had guided their nations to the World Cup Final, the first – and subsequently only – time the Three Lions have reached the showpiece occasion. The game was an epic. Helmut Haller put the Germans ahead before Geoff Hurst levelled it up six minutes later. Future Spur Martin Peters fired England ahead with 12 minutes remaining and they were seconds away from victory when Wolfgang Weber equalised to send the game to extra time. But two goals from Hurst put the home side in control and captain Bobby Moore duly lifted the Jules Rimet Trophy on what still remains England’s finest hour.

April 29, 1972
Euro 72 qualifier
England 1 (Lee 78)
West Germany 3 (Hoeness 27, Netzer 84 pen, Muller 88)

Six years later, the two sides met in the quarter-finals of the 1972 European Championships, the first leg taking place at Wembley with the competition taking on a very different format to the one that now exists. This was the first time Spurs players represented England against the Germans at this venue, with Martin Chivers and Martin Peters both in the starting line-up. Franny Lee cancelled out Uli Hoeness’ opener for West Germany late on, but the visitors hit two late goals from Gunther Netzer and Gerd Muller to give them the advantage. The second leg was a goalless draw in Berlin and the Germans went on to win the trophy with a 3-0 win against USSR in Brussels.

March 12, 1975
Friendly
England 2 (Bell 25, MacDonald 66)
West Germany 0

This may have been another friendly, but 100,000 packed into Wembley Stadium to see goals from Colin Bell and Malcolm MacDonald give Don Revie’s England the win.

October 13, 1982
Friendly
England 1 (Woodcock 85)
West Germany 2 (Rummenigge 73, 83)

Spurs defender Gary Mabbutt made the first of his 16 appearances for England in this game, as West Germany returned to Wembley for a friendly. Just a few months earlier, the Germans had lost the 1982 World Cup Final to Italy, but two late goals from Karl-Heinz Rummenigge gave them victory on this occasion. Tony Woodcock’s 85th minute goal was just a consolation for England, managed by Bobby Robson.

September 11, 1991
Friendly
England 0
Germany 1 (Riedle 45)

There was another debut cap for a Spurs player nine years later, with Paul Stewart making his first England appearance at Wembley against Germany. The midfielder came off the bench in the 68th minute to join then-Spurs striker Gary Lineker in Graham Taylor’s team, but they were unable to prevent the visitors from securing the win, Karl-Heinz Riedle scoring the only goal of the game.

June 26, 1996
Euro 96 Semi-Final
England 1 (Shearer 2)
Germany 1 (Kuntz 16)
(Germany won 6-5 on penalties)

The second major tournament hosted by England saw them once again find their path to victory blocked by Germany, as the two sides met in the semi-finals of Euro 96. Former Spurs manager Terry Venables was at the helm of the Three Lions at the time and two of our players – Teddy Sheringham and Darren Anderton – were in his squad, along with our former midfielder Paul Gascoigne. Both Steffen Freund and Christian Ziege were in the Germany side to face England, prior to their arrivals at White Hart Lane. With no international success since 1966, this was considered England’s best chance to end ‘40 years of hurt’. Alan Shearer gave the Three Lions a second-minute lead which Stefan Kuntz cancelled out and, despite great chances for both sides, no-one could find a winner during the remainder of the 90 minutes and extra time. Penalties ensued with 10 successive spot-kicks converted until current England boss Gareth Southgate saw his saved by Andreas Kopke. Moller stepped up and scored past David Seaman to send Germany through – and they lifted the trophy a few days later at Wembley by beating Czech Republic.

October 7, 2000
World Cup 2002 qualifier
England 0
Germany 1 (Hamann 14)

Wembley Stadium’s last-ever game before its redevelopment in 2000 was a fitting encounter as England and Germany did battle in a qualifying match for World Cup 2002. The game itself however was a disappointing affair and the result even more so for England, as Dietmar Hamann’s 14th-minute goal gave the visitors all three points. England manager Kevin Keegan resigned shortly after the match but his replacement Sven-Goran Eriksson guided the Three Lions to the World Cup, thanks in part to a 5-1 defeat of Germany in the return game in Munich in September, 2001.

August 22, 2007
Friendly
England 1 (Lampard 9)
Germany 2 (Kuranyi 26, Pander 40)

Germany were the last team to beat England at the ‘old’ Wembley – and on this occasion they became the first side to defeat England at the ‘new’ venue as well! This was the Three Lions’ third match at the impressive new arena, having drawn with Brazil and beaten Israel, but despite Frank Lampard’s early goal they couldn’t hold on. Our goalkeeper at the time, Paul Robinson, was between the sticks in the first half but conceded goals to Kevin Kuranyi and Christian Pander as Germany ran out winners again.

November 19, 2013
Friendly
England 0
Germany 1 (Mertesacker 39)

The most recent encounter between England and Germany at Wembley saw then-Spurs players Kyle Walker and Andros Townsend feature in Roy Hodgson’s starting XI for the friendly, but Per Mertesacker’s goal gave Germany their sixth successive win against the old foes.