World Cup 2010 : The England vs Germany Rivalry who will come out on top Germany or England
England and Germany have had a great rivalry in the game of football. It started way back in the 1930s and has continued to this day. The rivalry has become a strange one indeed with the English side bringing in their wins at the 2 World Wars into the football contest as well. These two teams have been playing matches for so long that the current showdown between them looks like it will be an epic encounter.
The two teams have a rivalry that started in 1930 when the two teams met in Germany and played a friendly match. The match was a thrilling encounter that ended in a 3-3 draw. The teams met again a few years later but the most controversial meeting between the two teams came in 1938 when they met at a friendly match held in n**i occupied Germany. The meeting was so controversial because of the fact that the entire England team was told to give a n**i salute to the German team by their foreign office. The stage had been set for a rivalry like no other.
The modern day rivalry between these nations started in 1966 with the World Cup final which was England's first and only win at the tournament. This win truly started the rivalry between the countries in football as the win happened because of a 'ghost goal' when a linesman judged the ball to have crossed the line of the goal but many saw it actually stay out. The strength and prowess of that particular English side has never been relived with the likes of Bobby Moore and Geoff Hurst leading the charge.
This World Cup win brought out the dark side of English fans though. After the win, a chant was started which still continues to this day. The chant was 'Two World Wars and a World Cup win,' and is an odd one because the Germans have won the World Cup 5 times in total to the English lone win. It is a sad sight to see fans today repeating this slogan and showing the German team and the German fans the n**i symbol. It seems the Germans will never be able to live down the fact that they were overwhelmed by Nazism in the early part of the 1900s. As much as the Germans today try to stop racism and clamp down on any mention of Nazism in any form, the English supporters do not seem to care and continue with this age old taunt from the pages of forgotten history. What the English side need to do is beat the Germans with football skill and win another World Cup then they can amend the chant to 'Two World Cup wins and counting.'
There are those out there that say this is a very one sided rivalry because the Germans are a much stronger team than the English and always have been. Despite one or two spurts of greatness from the England camp, the Germans have seemed to be the stronger side. Commentators have said that this rivalry only exists in the minds of the English with the Germans counting the Netherlands as their original rivals. Since that single World Cup win by the English in 1966, the Germans have been in 11 World Cup finals and they have managed to lift 5 trophies, while England have only featured in two semi finals at the World Cup finals since then. Does the English team have something extra to show this year, which might just surprise the strong Germans?
It seems that in the current World Cup neither Germany nor England have looked particularly strong. The Germans in their first round have won 2 matches but lost 1, while England have won a single match and they drew two matches. Uruguay, the Argentineans and the Netherlands have all looked very strong in this year's tournament and it could be that this rivalry frizzles out after this match if both teams are eliminated soon after it. The Germans have come into this World Cup with their youngest side ever and are playing without their captain Michael Ballack, while the England team has had a sputtering start so far and have not really been in form. Let's see what the contest produces today, but in all honestly both these two teams do not look like they will lift the cup this year.
Over the years these two teams have faced each other 27 times with the wins and loses being pretty even between them both. Even if the rivalry is one sided, it will still be a thrilling encounter that will see a lot of drama and excitement. Hopefully the fans will behave.
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