The Round of 16 of the European Championship are giving us some of the most entertaining matches of the tournaments but we don’t expect the England vs Germany game to head in that same direction.
On Monday, Croatia and Spain played out an eight-goal thriller while Switzerland knocked France out on penalties. On Tuesday, England take on Germany at Wembley but we doubt we are going to see the same level of excitement in this game.
Germany and England are yet to hit peak form in the tournament and according to German legend Lothar Matthaus, both sides look heavily disjointed and are currently counting on individual brilliance to see them through.
He told Sky Sports: “Both teams have great players but haven’t yet found the team spirit that you need to win a European Championship title.
“I respect the English team a lot. They have very good players. They play for the best teams in the world – Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, wow.
“But players alone are not enough.
“You need a good team, like the Italian team at this moment – they can change every single game but they have played very well this European Championship. No big names, but they are playing like a team. Also Sweden, they play like a team.
“England and Germany, they miss the connection between the defence and the offence and the midfield. Something with these two teams is missing. But they know what they have to do now. They don’t get a second chance, this is now a final game.
“I think this will be extra-time, a penalty shootout, and Germany will win again – this is the story in Germany and in England.
“We are on the same level, we have a draw, after the draw it comes to penalty kicks, and then Germany win. This is a nice story for me again. We like this story in Germany.”
England have scored only two goals in their group games but at the same time, they are yet to concede a goal in this tournament. So we can fully understand that Gareth Southgate will be focusing more on defensive cohesiveness rather than attack on Tuesday.
The Three Lions have some of the best players in world football but they are yet to click together as a team and this is why the manager will not want his players to take unnecessary risks.
English players like Foden, Kane are yet to sync with the side while others such as Rashford and Jadon Sancho cannot even make it into the first XI at the moment. Germany on the other hand have tried to play some positive football in their last two matches but Hungary made it clear that this German side are not what they used to be.
For the game to open up, Germany will need to score early so that England break out of their shackles and come on the front foot. But other than that, just like Matthaus, we can see this game going all the way till penalties.
