On Tuesday night, Germany and England will renew their famous rivalry once again in the second set of fixtures in the Nations League tournament and with neither team enjoying a victory in their opening game of the competition, the pressure is on for both to pick up the three points on offer.
The teams have played a number of historic games over the years, including Germany’s 4-1 demolition of England at the 2010 World Cup Finals in South Africa, England’s 5-1 win in Germany in FIFA World Cup 2002 qualifying, Germany’s penalties win at the 1990 World Cup Finals in Italy and of course the 4-2 win for England in the 1966 World Cup Final.
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They also met last summer at Wembley where goals from Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane handed England a 2-0 win at Wembley, their first win at home against Germany in the last eight meetings between the two.
However, with focus now on the Nations League and the build-up to this winter’s World Cup Finals in Qatar, Tuesday;s game is a key one for both teams.
We’ve previewed the game below, with odds provided by bet365 Sport where appropriate.
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If Gareth Southgate thought his England team would be opening their Nations League campaign with a win against Hungary at the weekend, then he will have been disappointed as the Three Lions succumbed to a 1-0 defeat to the Hungarians in Budapest.
A lacklustre display by England, who handed a debut to West Ham star Jarrod Bowen, was punished when the Hungarians were awarded a penalty for a clumsy collision involving substitute Reece James and Zsolt Nagy.
Dominik Szoboszlai stepped up and converted the penalty to hand the Hungarians a 1-0 win, and revenge for their 4-0 home defeat they suffered against England in their 2022 World Cup Qualifying campaign,
England huffed and puffed but failed to create many chances against an unremarkable Hungary defence in what was one of the most disappointing displays England have produced in Gareth Southgate’s time as manager.
After failing to qualify for the World Cup Finals this year, Italian manager Roberto Mancini rung in the changes bringing in a number of young and up and coming stars and leaving many of his more experienced players out of this squad.
23-year-old goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma was the most experienced player in the squad in terms of caps with 44, and during the first half, the Italian team battled well to keep the Germans, who had the majority of the possession, away from their goal.
In the second half though, Italy took one of the few chances they created. Substitute FC Zurich winger Wilfried Gnonto doing well to cross into the box for Lorenzo Pellegrini to slot the ball home to give the home side the lead.
However, they could not keep hold of that lead for long as three minutes later, Germany levelled when Kimmich turned home Hoffman’s cross to bring the visitors level.
Mancini would have been the happier of the two managers with this result as both teams moved into joint second in the table behind Hungary after one game.
Hansi Flick is likely to stick with a strong team for the game with England, knowing a defeat could leave them in real trouble even just two games into the competition.
I\d expect most of the team from the game with Italy to remain the same but perhaps a couple of English-based players, namely Gundogan and Havertz coming into the team.
Sule and Rudiger will be a very physical and powerful back line, but one that England’s pacy strikers will hope to be able to get the better of on the floor.
Predicted Team
Germany (4-2-3-1) – Neuer, Henrichs, Sule, Rudiger, Kehrer, Kimmich, Gundogan, Havertz, Muller, Sane, Werner
England boss Gareth Southgate tried an experimental formation in Hungary and it failed as England’s long run of games without a defeat came to an end.
I’d expect Southgate to go back to his trusted 3-4-3 formation for this game with Sterling coming into attack alongside Kane and either Saka or Grealish, with perhaps the natural width provided by the Arsenal man key here.,
I think Phillips and Rice will team up once again in midfield, with Walker, Maguire and Stones forming the back three. I expect Alexander Arnold to be rested and Reece James to come in at right wing back with Trippier to replace the injured James Justin at left wing back.
Predicted Team
England (3-4-3) – Pickford, Walker, Maguire, Stones, James, Phillips, Rice, Trippier, Saka, Kane, Sterling.
England and Germany games are never the easiest to predict, they can be dour 0-0 affairs with not much happening, or they can also be some of the most dramatic encounters. Given when this game is being played and its relative importance, I feel we are more likely to see the first than the second in this week’s game.
Germany have the advantage of being at home for this game but England know two defeats in a row would be a huge blow to their hopes of winning the group and they need a big performance here.
I can see both managers reverting to more familiar formations and I feel that Germany will be better than they were against an inexperienced Italy team.
As such, I am going for a Germany win here at 6/5, by a 2/1 scoreline (which is an 8/1 shot in the correct score market) and with Kai Havertz to be an anytime goalscorer at 13/5.
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