Context
The two sides have met on a number of important occasions in their footballing histories.
They had played in the 1966 World Cup Final at Wembley Stadium, in which England had beaten West Germany 4–2 after extra time. Revenge came just four years later, in the quarter-final of the 1970 World Cup in Mexico when the English side forfeited a comfortable 2–0 lead only to lose 2–3 in extra time. West Germany then defeated England in the semi-final of the 1990 competition, this time on penalties. In Euro 1996, Germany again defeated England in a semi-final on penalties. Germany won 1–0 in October 2000 in the last ever match at England's home stadium of Wembley, before it was closed for redevelopment, causing England manager Kevin Keegan to resign from the post.
In the qualifying tournament prior to the game, Germany were clear group leaders. With only the group winners advancing directly to the 2002 World Cup, the pre-game qualifying group table was:
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Germany | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 5 | +8 | 16 |
| England | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 3 | +4 | 10 |
| Greece | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 9 | −5 | 6 |
| Finland | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 6 | −1 | 5 |
| Albania | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 10 | −5 | 3 |
With three points for a win and a total of eight games played, a German victory would have confirmed their qualification and seen England competing with Greece and Finland for a place in the qualification playoffs. A draw would have resulted in Germany requiring just another draw from their final game, and England requiring two victories, a German loss and an improvement in their goal difference. Germany had lost just one of their previous sixty qualification games; and that had been in qualification for the 1986 World Cup. They had also been unbeaten at the Olympiastadion stadium since 1973. Indeed, The German Football Association were confident enough that they would qualify to arrange friendlies on the dates of the play offs.
Read more about this topic: 2001 Germany Vs England Football Match
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