FIFA World Cup 2010 Super Sunday Soccer England v Germany 16:00 Local Time

The Match

, Mangaung/Bloemfontein, 16.00 (local time)

Probably one of the oldest and most talked about fixtures in the world will happen again today Germany v England is almost synonomous with FIFA World Cup history and yet England have only ever won the tournament once and Germany only 3 times.

With both teams of old providing some of the timeless legends of the game to name but two, Bobby Moore and Franz Beckenbauer, and there have been many more over the decades. This is a match that many would have liked to see as the final however group draws and even the team performance’s mean that this to age old adversaries meet now and only one will advance to the quarter finals.

Both teams are bouyed with confidence and anticipation to be playing this match so early in the tournament having both beaten the odds in their group match’s taking their advancement hopes to the wire in each of their groups.
Of the 27 official FIFA World Cup full international meetings over the years England have won 12 outright and Germany have won 10 outright.

Both teams have their problems coming into this match with key players injured or simply just not playing on form, making the jobs of Low and Capello, coach’s for Germany and England respectively, that much more difficult when it comes to team selection for this match.

“It would be a terrible mistake to underestimate them just because they had a few problems in their group. They may well raise their game for the knockout matches. We have no need to be in awe, and we certainly have no reason to fear them. We respect them of course, but we’re not afraid,” Lukas Podolski, Germany striker.

“I think we can go all the way this time. I’ve never felt it like this before in other tournaments. I thought it was an excellent performance against Slovenia and we can’t wait to get to grips with Germany,” Joe Cole, England midfielder.