After catching the train in from Reading, got a packed tube train upto Wembley Central and arrived with an hour and a half to go until kickoff. Despite it being August, the sky was overcast and it started to drizzle as I walked up Wembley Way. As I got to the top of the walkway, I noticed the England team coach making it's way to the ground.
I decided to take a walk in the rain to the Bobby Moore statue as I hadn't had a close look at the FA Trophy final back in May and it seemed appropriate given the opposition. There were a number of German fans outside the ground but everyone was in good spirits and no problems with the two sets of fans.
After making my way into the ground via the escalators to level 5, I grabbed a quick drink and watched the team news on the huge plasma screen that was showing Sky Sports News. I then made my way up to my seat, almost pausing for oxygen as I was near the top of the stand. Despite that, the view was excellent and I was pleased to find myself almost level with the penalty area on the side rather than being on one of the ends (despite the rain water that was lapping my feet - a bit like the coffee at St Mary's the last time I saw England play) . The programme was almost as steep - £6 - but had plenty to read which kept me busy until kickoff.
England started well and took an early lead a good run from Michah Richards found Lampard, who made his way into the box to finish at close range. Lampard had been booed by many at the start of the game and it was interesting to see the boo-boys silenced by an excellent goal. England dominated the early possession but there was little movement up front and the defence was too keen to play the ball between themselves. This caused a few problems as the German's got wise and pressed up the pitch. A misplaced Ferdinand pass almost let them in on one occasion and they continued to be sloppy with passes. Nicky Shorey cleared the ball from the penalty area and it looked like it would go out of play. The defence switched off and didn't press Schneider who managed to keep it in play. He hit a cross which almost went in. Robinson managed to get a hand on it but not enough to push it over the bar and the ball bounced on to the cross bar and down to a grateful Kuranyi who tapped it in from a yard. The 7,000 Germans in the away end (joined by a significant number dotted around the England support) went wild and continued to make most of the noise for the rest of the game.
England pushed forward again - Terry almost got to the ball from a Beckham freekick before Lehmann and Lampard had a shot charged down when it looked like he was going to score. In the end it was Germany who added a second just before halftime. Again, the England defence allowed Germany too much space and Pander blasted an unstoppable shot past Robinson.
In the second half, David James got a recall from the bench and both Owen and Smith were replaced up front - neither had really looked convincing. Crouch played as a lone striker with Dyer added to the midfield. Suddenly England looked transformed and the movement upfront gave cause for optimism. Beckham even managed to beat his man on the right (before hitting a tame cross to Lehmann). Dyer put a shot the wrong side of the post and Sean Wright-Phillips beautifully dummied the defence before putting his shot wide. Germany had a couple of chances on the counter-attack but James wasn't troubled too much. To my surprise Beckham got to play the whole 90 mins - with all the hype around his US move it was less of a surprise to hear the crowd noise raise everytime he got the ball or took a freekick.
Surprisingly, a mass exodus started with 15 minutes to go and by fulltime at least half of the England fans had left the ground - I decided to stay until the end (as normal) but wasn't rewarded with an equaliser. Made my way back to the queues outside the tube and had the pleasure of bumping into an old football mate I hadn't seen for a couple of years - made the hour wait for a train worthwhile.
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