I have to say that I haven’t been a big fan of the England team in recent decades but since our two Jordans have been involved my interest has greatly increased. It’s been nice to see a lot of younger players being included and such is my tunnel vision on Sunderland A.F.C. I hadn’t even heard of a number of them before. I’ve seen two of our performances in the competition so far and am not too confident that we’ll get too much further. The defence has obviously been tight, as the goals-against table shows, but only two goals at the other end gives cause for concern. Our passing and possession has been impressive but I haven’t seen much flair on display with the exception of Grealish, Foden and Saka. By all accounts Germany have been no great shakes and we are at home which is definitely an advantage. Of course much has been made of encounters in recent history but I don’t think that’ll affect the players on the pitch this afternoon, many of whom weren’t even alive in 1996. I’ve got my solo table booked at Bradleys Spanish Bar for 4.00 and it’s only in a small basement so I know it’s going to be as full as regulations allow. If we lose, I won’t be that bothered really but of course a win would give everyone a boost and we all need that at the moment.
I had to change tubes at Baker Street and there were many England fans changing on to the trains up to Wembley, many of them singing “It’s coming home...” I got to the bar just before 4.00 and paid for several Guinnesses in advance before taking my favourite seat. It had been raining heavily off and on for the previous hour or two and I didn’t envy those watching the match at some open air venues in London. England were starting with a rather defensive line-up and though Saka was starting, Grealish wasn’t. There were only about ten people in the bar when we kicked off.
At half-time a bloke came in and sat down near me and when he asked how it ha d been so far, I had to say it had been boring. Germany had had much the better of the opening twelve minutes or so while England had struggled to settle. Shortly after that Sterling had our first shot on target and Neuer turned it out for our first corner. Pickford made a crucial stop from Werner just after the half-hour mark and that was preceded by a great opportunity for Gosens but he failed to capitalise on it. England’s attacks had been slow and laboured and there’d been little excitement apart from Saka and Sterling having the occasional run at their defence. It remained goalless at the break but we were 2-1 ahead on yellow cards. It looked like one goal would do it and extra-time was looming. The bloke who arrived during the break was about the same age as me and was a London born Man United fan, not an unusual phenomenon of course, but he remembered the two tussles Sunderland had with them in the 1974-1975 season and we had a good laugh about that. It was very rough going to Old Trafford back then.
Anyway, four minutes into the second period Pickford made a great save tipping over a powerful Havertz shot. The German defenders were hardly giving Kane an inch while Sterling was hogging the ball on occasions when a pass to an unmarked team-mate would probably have yielded better results. In the sixty-seventh minute both sides made changes and we brought on Grealish for Saka. I had mixed feelings about that but was pleased top see Grealish on at any rate. With a quarter of an hour to go we took the lead and once more it was Sterling, this time slotting home a Grealish cross from the left from close range. Germany really hadn’t looked much of a threat till with about ten minutes left Muller found himself one on one with Pickford but he shot wide of the left post and sqaundered a great chance. When that happened, I reckoned they’d had their chips and we should win it but with four minutes on the clock we put the game beyond any real doubt when Kane found some space at last to head home a Shaw cross from the left. Hendo had been hovering on the touchline for a while and he finally came on right near the end and he’s just the kind of player you like to see coming on to steer the match through. There were four minutes of stoppage-time but we looked comfortable and it ended 2-0 to much cheering and applause in the bar.
So, four games played with three wins and no goals conceded. That’s some record even if we haven’t excited too much. You’ve got to fancy our chances against the winners of the Sweden v Ukraine match.
