England expects. Even that two-word affirmation carries more than an echo of the military past that sadly seems to permeate so much discussion before a World Cup encounter with Germany, but it is true. England expects.
The players expect, too. The nucleus of thirtysomethings and late twentysomethings within Fabio Capello’s squad has never, in the players’ lifetimes, known anything but misery at the hands of German opponents in the knockout stages of leading tournaments, from the early memories of the 1990 World Cup to the Euro ’96 defeat that came as many of them were taking their first steps towards stardom. But they maintain that, in the unlikely setting of Bloemfontein tomorrow afternoon, it will be different.
It would not be hard, on the basis of performances in this World Cup, to dismiss England as dysfunctional no-hopers and Germany, with the beguiling young talents of Thomas Müller and Mesut Özil, as one of the top four teams in the tournament, along with Argentina, Brazil and Holland.
So why does it feel, after England scraped into the knockout stages with downbeat draws against the United States and Algeria and a fairly prosaic victory over Slovenia, that this is England’s turn to overcome Germany?
Joe Cole predicted something similar the other day, saying pointedly that “I feel this is our time”, and it was an attitude reinforced yesterday by David James as the goalkeeper shrugged at the mention of Özil, apologised to a German journalist that his “name-recollection skills are next to disgraceful” and proceeded to declare:
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“I genuinely think we’re going to win because I think we’re a better team than Germany.”
A better team? This is highly debatable, given that Capello’s side have hardly resembled a cohesive unit since a resounding 5-1 victory over Croatia last September, whereas a young Germany team have developed the “Teamgeist”, or spirit, that comes from having six members of the squad that won the European Under-21 Championship in highly impressive style in Sweden last summer.
England were the team they beat in the final — Özil running the show during a magnificent 4-0 victory — but only two players, Joe Hart and James Milner, have made the step up to Capello’s squad.
There are plenty of reasons to be fearful for the long-term future of England, with Capello reflecting the reluctance of many Barclays Premier League managers to make any commitment to blooding young talent.
Capello’s 23-man squad is the oldest in this World Cup, with an average age of 28 years and six months and with only six players under the age of 27. By contrast, Joachim Löw, the Germany coach, has named a squad with an average age of 25 years and three months, with 18 of their 23 players under the age of 27 — among them the Bayern Munich trio of Philipp Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Lukas Podolski, who have a combined total of 221 caps.
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This is a vibrant young Germany squad, with Özil, Jérôme Boateng, Sami Khedira and others evidence of their success in tapping into an ethnically diverse population, and there is good reason to predict that they will re-emerge as a dominant force in world football over the coming years.
But now? To this observer, at least, it feels as if players such as John Terry, Ashley Cole, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Wayne Rooney are right to regard tomorrow as the ideal opportunity to overcome German opposition in a World Cup finals for the first time since 1966.
In many ways, it feels as though England are approaching the end of an era as Germany are launching a new one. This is probably the final fling for the so-called golden generation — that group of players who emerged over the course of the 1990s and, as a national team, peaked with that magnificent 5-1 win in a World Cup qualifying match in Munich in September 2001.
The older ones — Gary Neville, Sol Campbell, Paul Scholes, perhaps even Michael Owen — have faded from the international scene since that night, but only injury stopped Rio Ferdinand, David Beckham and Owen Hargreaves from joining Ashley Cole, Jamie Carragher, Gerrard and Emile Heskey in the 2010 squad. (Germany’s only survivor from that night is Miroslav Klose, a second-half substitute, although Michael Ballack would have been captain of Löw’s team but for injury.) Joe Cole, who did not play in Munich but was regarded as the baby of England’s golden generation, said yesterday that he and his team-mates feel an overwhelming desire to to beat Germany tomorrow.
“The history between the two countries is immense,” the 28-year-old said. “I remember 1990. That was the first time I watched England. I remember screaming at the telly when Gazza [Paul Gascoigne] was booked.
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“We all started young in our generation. We don’t like to be called that [the golden generation]. That was sort of put upon us.
I can remember them talking about the Portugal team [of the mid-1990s], who had some of the best players in the world and they never won anything. We want to win something — and then they can call us that.”
Winning the World Cup still looks an exceedingly tall order for England, particularly because, having failed to win group C, they would have to beat Argentina or Mexico in the quarter-finals in Cape Town next Saturday if they can overcome Germany.
The alternative route, had they beaten the United States to first place in the group, would have kept them in Rustenburg to take on Ghana today, with a quarter-final against Uruguay or South Korea the prize for the winners.
England does not expect to win the World Cup. Even to dare to suggest such a thing would open oneself to ridicule, given the team’s repeated failure to overcome the best teams at leading tournaments down the years.
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But the meeting with an admittedly vibrant young Germany tomorrow is a chance to give the nation something to cheer. After all, looking at the golden generation that appears to be emerging in Germany, this might be England’s last such opportunity for some time.