friendly preview: england - germany
 
what: international friendly
who: england v germany
when: wednesday 22nd august, 2007, kick-off 20:00 local (bst)
where: wembley, london
 
a friendly farce

the anti-friendly brigade has steadily been growing over the past decade or so and on wednesday night there is another occasion which will have them crying ‘what’s the point?’.

england are playing against their fierce rivals germany in a senior international and nobody really seems to care. just what has happened to the importance of friendly matches at this level?

steve mcclaren has seen a large percentage of his full squad withdraw through injury and in some cases “injuries” for a match that comes just over a week into a new season.

the team that the under pressure boss puts out will be unrecognisable from the one he would hope to field against israel and russia next month, while he has had only a matter of hours of training time with his players.

however, the new wembley stadium is full to its 90,000 capacity and while this is the case the friendly will continue to play a part in our football calendar.

germany too have a wave of injuries for the match with joachim loew without a large number of first team regulars, so expect a great deal of experimentation on both sides.

old rivals

there are few bigger football rivalries that england and germany. 1966, 1970, 1990 , 1996 and 2001 are just some of the years that only have to be mentioned for memories are stories to come to the attention of nationals on both sides.

a meeting at any level holds importance on the terraces if nothing else as fans desire little more than getting a win over the other, which will ensure that there should be some atmosphere at the new wembley.

it may not be the first england match at their new home, but it is against the side that were the last to play at the old wembley and on that wet september afternoon in 2000 it signalled the end of the road for then manager kevin keegan.

while it may well be a wet august evening tomorrow, it is unlikely to have any real significance on the future of mcclaren, although a good result may well take the pressure off him in the lead up to next months qualifies, which will determine his length of stay in the hot seat.

quotes

england boss steve mcclaren:

"im crying out for more time with my players so i take whatever time people give me - remember the premier league and the international committee do the fixtures and were dictated to by them..

"we are just pleased to have time with the players because we have got big games coming up.

"you need team cohesion to play and thats one of the things that sometimes you cant get without playing games.

"so this game is a big game. weve got israel in three weeks and the way injuries are going this might be the team that is playing against israel."

germany boss joachim loew

"with a view to euro 2008 jens is, and will stay, our number one." (regarding the arsenal keepers recent calamities in the premiership.

team news

england are without wayne rooney, steven gerrard, owen hargreaves and gary neville, who would all be expected to start in ordinary circumstances. he is then also without ledley king, jonathan woodgate, michael dawson, aaron lennon, sol campbell, andy johnson and darren bent. with the recent international retirement of jamie carragher his central defensive options have been hardest hit, so it could be an opportunity to test out youngsters steven taylor and micah richards at the back. two of the biggest name players should at least play their part as david beckham and michael owen has shaken off knocks and should get some match time, although neither can be considered at full fitness.

for germany their injury list reads michael ballack, miroslav klose, bastian schweinsteiger, lukas podolski and torsten frings, all of whom are crucial players for loew. mario gomez, jan schlaudraff, tim borowski, marcell jansen, clemens fritz and potential debutante sami khedira are also now unavailable due to injury.

squads

england (minus injury withdrawals)

goalkeepers: paul robinson (tottenham hotspur), david james (portsmouth), scott carson (aston villa)

defenders: micah richards (manchester city), wes brown (manchester united), rio ferdinand (manchester united), john terry (chelsea), ashley cole (chelsea), steven taylor (newcastle united), nicky shorey (reading)

midfielders: phil neville (everton), david beckham (la galaxy), frank lampard (chelsea), joe cole (chelsea), shaun wright-phillips (chelsea), michael carrick (manchester united), gareth barry (aston villa), stewart downing (middlesbrough), kieron dyer (west ham united).

forwards: alan smith (newcastle united), michael owen (newcastle united), peter crouch (liverpool), jermain defoe (tottenham hotspur)

germany (minus injury withdrawals)

goalkeepers: jens lehmann (arsenal), timo hildebrand (valencia)

defenders: arne friedrich (hertha berlin), philipp lahm (bayern munich) per mertesacker, (werder bremen) christoph metzelder (real madrid), serdar tasci (stuttgart), christian pander (werder bremen)

midfielders: roberto hilbert (stuttgart), thomas hitzlsperger (stuttgart), simon rolfes (bayer leverkusen) bernd schneider (bayer leverkusen), piotr trochowski (hamburg)

forwards: patrick helmes (cologne) stefan kießling (bayer leverkusen) kevin kuranyi (schalke)

players to watch

england - micah richards

the manchester city teenager is no longer an unknown commodity, but we may not yet know just how good he is! he has looked a very capable and talented right-back in the year since he broke into city’s first team and seems to be a player with a big future for club and country. however, on sunday in the manchester derby he showed his potential to be something else - a truly world class centre-back. considering his age he produced a masterful performance in the centre and he really has all the hallmarks to be challenger to the current monopoly of john terry and rio ferdinand on the central defensive positions.

prediction

both teams are down to their bare bones and the motivation of the remaining players is questionable. the morale in the england camp is rather low, but home support could prove the difference in this one as the crowd would love nothing more than a win over germany. a tight game should account for a low scoring affair with england just nicking the win. 1-0