27 June 2010, Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein. Germany 4–1 England.
By Hamish McTavish
A Sunday in the Free State, last sixteen, and a country that still packs 1966 in the carry-on. The stadium is a bowl of winter sun and orange seats. Fabio Capello had named the same eleven that had scraped past Slovenia. Wayne Rooney had not scored since March. Steven Gerrard said it was only a matter of time. Capello said history does not count. "To win the World Cup you have to beat the big teams — and Germany are one of those teams. It isn’t about anything else. History doesn’t count. We respect Germany, but I also think that they respect England. I know the value of Germany, but I also know the value of my players."
History doesn’t count. That is 1966 with the serial numbers filed off. England had not beaten Germany at a World Cup since the afternoon they will not shut up about. They had gone out to them on penalties in Turin and at Wembley in 96. They had beaten them in a Berlin friendly two years earlier, Upson and Terry, and brought that with them as if a November night were a prophecy. Rooney, the week before, had wanted the Germans as soon as possible, "so we can beat them." The Sun and the Mirror would need the morning to find Don’t mention the score. The Mail would need collective surrender. The night itself only needed a defence that could not deal with a goal-kick.
Bloemfontein in June is high and bright and a long way from the twin towers. England had come through a group they had not won. The route after Germany, if they got there, was already being drawn in the English papers as Argentina and then whoever waited. Capello had said there was pressure, of course, but that was normal. He had seen spirit against Slovenia. He had kept Upson next to Terry. He had kept Defoe next to Rooney. He had kept the idea that this Germany were one of the big teams, not more. Not more is the sentence that dies first.
They kicked off anyway.
Germany were quicker to the first thought. Mesut Özil in behind, David James saving, Ashley Cole turning to get back. Then, on twenty minutes, the night started to tell the truth. Manuel Neuer’s kick was allowed to bounce. It went over John Terry. Miroslav Klose held off Matthew Upson and poked it past James. Klose’s fiftieth for Germany, his twelfth at World Cups, from a goal-kick England treated as weather. Twelve minutes later Lukas Podolski was slipped in and put it through James’s legs at the far post. Two-nil, and the worst defending a World Cup afternoon had shown them in years, and still the English end waited for the old story to arrive.
It arrived as a header. Gerrard’s cross, Upson’s jump, 2–1, and for fifty-three seconds the ground thought it might yet be a comeback. Then Frank Lampard lofted one over Neuer, off the underside of the bar, down, a yard over the line, back out. Jorge Larrionda did not give it. The linesman did not give it. Capello, from the bench, saw it in. Replays had it a foot over before the keeper had caught the bounce. 1966 in reverse, and this time the ball was not a debate. It was a fact the officials missed. That is the grievance they will take to the grave. It is not the night.
The night is what Germany did after the interval, when England pushed and left the grass behind them. Lampard hit the bar again. They looked, for a stretch, the more likely. Then, just after the hour, two counters in three minutes, both finished by Thomas Müller. Boateng’s clearance, the break, 3–1. Then another. 4–1. England’s worst World Cup finals defeat, and the score the morning told you not to mention. Capello said they had played with five referees who could not decide a goal, and that the game was different after it. Joachim Löw, who had seen the replay, said the ball was behind the line and must have been given. He can have the honesty. Müller had the two that made the honesty optional.
The morning papers reached for Fawlty, which is what they do when the score is too big for a pun of their own. Don’t mention the score. Collective surrender. The line they would not shut up about was the one that had not been given. The two that Müller put in after the hour did not need a committee. They needed a back four that could not live with a break, and they did not have one. 4–1 is the number. The ghost is the alibi they laid over it.
Klose had been stronger than Upson for the first. Podolski had walked through a back line that was already arguing with itself. Müller had punished the push. James had the legs and the bounce. Terry had the kick over his head. Upson had the header that made the ghost possible, and the holding-off that made the first goal cheap. Rooney had the afternoon he had been promised would come good. Lampard had the goal that was a goal, and the bar, and the column. Capello had history doesn’t count, which is a sentence that only works if you can defend a goal-kick.
They said history doesn’t count. They said so we can beat them. They said I know the value of my players. They said the referee made the bigger mistakes. If you still think it was only the line, a funeral is only a Tuesday. The line was a yard. The score was four. The morning told you not to mention it, which is how you can tell it was the only number in the paper.
The film is up. BBC still have the ghost and the counters. FIFA keep the whole afternoon. Do not review it. Watch the kick bounce, the ball sit over the line, and Müller do the rest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlnyiaRviDk
## Related reading
- [Put the kettle on, mother](/blogs/the-tape/put-the-kettle-on-mother) — another night a World Cup exit dressed itself as certainty - [The wally with the brolly](/blogs/the-tape/the-wally-with-the-brolly) — Croatia 3–2, already live on the Tape
If the nights sit right, the shirts and the wall are at [/shop](/shop).
## FAQ
What was the score when Germany beat England in Bloemfontein 2010?
Germany 4–1 England, on 27 June 2010 at the Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein. Klose, Podolski and Müller (two) scored for Germany; Upson for England.
Was Frank Lampard’s shot over the line?
Yes. Replays showed the ball a clear margin over the line after hitting the underside of the bar. Referee Jorge Larrionda and the linesman did not award the goal. It did not change the final score of 4–1.
What did the morning papers say?
The Sun and Daily Mirror led on Don’t mention the score — a Fawlty Towers riff on a defeat too large for a smaller pun. The grievance was the disallowed goal; the night was Müller’s two counters.