England 1-4 Germany: Live!

Welcome to thetalkofsport.com’s England v Germany LIVE blog. To view the latest updates manually refresh (or hit F5). ROUND OF 16: England (Upson, 37) 1-4 Germany (Klose 22, Podolski 32, Muller 66, 69)

FULL TIME: ENGLAND (Upson, 37) 1-4 GERMANY (Klose 22, Podolski 32, Muller 66, 69)

4.50pm: Watching the England players wander off the pitch – I’m glad that there weren’t any tears because it was abysmal. Dreadful decision denied Lampard, but that doesn’t even come into the equation when you play that poorly. James was probably England’s best player, which says it all. Credit to Germany who were brilliant – good luck to them for the rest of the tournament. They made England look a very, very poor side. Alan Shearer says ‘they were hopeless from start to finish’ and he’s not far wrong. Will Capello go? Who knows – but that’s England’s biggest ever defeat in a World Cup finals. Thanks for reading and sorry I couldn’t have brought better news.

It’s time for change somewhere though, that’s for sure. Good night England.

90: 2 minutes of time added one. The inquest will begin shortly.

88: England work a chance for Barry inside the area but it’s blocked behind. It’s all in vain anyhow. The final whistle can’t come soon enough.

85: Germany not interested in time wasting, they want more goals and fair play to them. England can’t get near the ball and when they do it doesn’t stick. Lawro says ‘one or two of the England players are going through the motions at the moment’ – wouldn’t be the first time in the tournament.

82: Ashley Cole brings down Ozil before he has the chance to break in behind. He gets a yellow card an amusing graphic comes up saying ‘misses next match’. Like that’ll be any time soon. Ozil makes way now, and he’s been top draw. Well played.

80: England might have given themselves a glimmer. Rooney plays in Gerrard and he does well to guide it towards the bottom corner – but great save. The keeper has looked dodgy all night, but that’s top draw.

78: There’s no good way to go out of a World Cup, but this must be one of the worst. Capello sits back down on his bench next to Stuart Pearce. Germany look comfortable on the ball and the more likely to score.

76: Germany stroking it around with ease and drawing the ole’s. There’s still 15 minutes left here, I’m not sure they’re done with the 4.

72: England lose easy possession again and Germany almost break. It’s borderline embarrassing already, but it could get much worse very quickly. You almost feel as though it might be better off damage limitation.

69: GOAL: (ENGLAND 1-4 GERMANY (MULLER) England torn apart. Another break from the Germans, Ozil at the heart of it, he squares for Muller who can’t miss. Germany deserve their lead, it could be more than 4 truth be told.

66: GOAL: (ENGLAND 1-3 GERMANY (MULLER) Great counter-attack from the Germans but England are slow getting back there. The ball is worked out wide to Muller and he drills it straight at James, who was unbalanced. Long, long road back. England look dead and burried.

64: Joe Cole coming for England, with James Milner making way. Be interesting to see how England line-up here, but I suspect it’ll be like for like.

61: Milner unlucky. Rooney works it across to Milner, but his first time shot is blocked away. England look a constant threat going forward, but they also look constantly all over the place in defence. James watches a sighter wide of the far post.

59: Chance for Muller. England part like the red sea and he shoots towards goal. Cole finally gets across to get a touch on it, and the ref gives a goalkick. More dodgy officiating.

56: There’s definitely goals in this for both teams – neither look good at the back. As I type, Germany cut wide open and their skipper underhits one back to the goalkeeper, who has to hurry in front of Defoe. What are these international defenders doing? Well, and Upson.

50: Wow – what a strike that is from Lampard. Rooney wins a free-kick, 30 yards from goal. Lampard unleashes an absolute beauty and rattles the crossbar. He couldn’t have hit that much better and the keeper was at sixes and sevens. That one definitely didn’t cross the line though, it went straight up in the air.

47: Friedrich booked for a nothing challenge on Defoe. That’s a ridiculous decision – Lawro describes it as a ‘guilty booking’. He might have a point, really.

46: Germany kick us off in the second half. Interested to see Rooney gesturing to the referee as the players came back out, before sharing a little smile with Ozil. The German players will know that’s a goal too. Time to put that behind us though… game on.

HALF-TIME: What an incredible 1st half. England looked down and out after half-an-hour. Klose and Podolski ran riot and James has kept England in it. But England have scored two good goals yet trail 2-1 – that’s not even up for debate. No doubt, smug Germany will remind us of 1966 but it’s not even close this time around. Alan Shearer points out that the linesman can’t be in line with it because of how fast play went, but he doesn’t need to be in line. It’s that obvious.

The English defending was atrocious in that first half. Upson looks a Sunday league player at the moment – yet amazingly he’s the man to get England back in it. I hope we’re not left talking about the goal that never was at the end of this one – I can’t take getting knocked out in that kind of fashion again.

45: Glen Johnon almost gets clear down the right but the ball just crosses the line. The linesman saw that one then.

43: England have come to life here, much, much better and more tempo about it. By the way, they talk about goal-line technology… that doesn’t even need it. It’s not even a close one.

41: We’ll talk about the consequences of that at half time, but I cannot believe that’s not been given. England don’t deserve to be level on balance, but it’s a goal. 100%.

39: Well, I can’t believe it. England win it straight from kick off, Lampard finds himself in space and chips the keepr brilliantly. Absolutely sublime finish – the ball hits the bar, bounces down and is a yard over the line, but it’s not given. It’s miles in, absolutely miles in. It’s not even close – but it doesn’t count. I can’t believe it.

37: GOAL: ENGLAND 1-2 GERMANY (UPSON) Well, well, well – right on cue! Lampard wins a corner trying to cross early. England work the set-piece short and Upson steals in and heads home.

35: Milner crosses, Lampard steals in but that’s a decent save. Important too. Up the other end, Upson done for pace and Klose gets in ahead of him – only for Johnson to come across and bail him out. From the resulting corner, Klose collects it at the far post, shows great feet but is denied by a combination of Gerrard and James. This isn’t good.

32: GOAL: GERMANY 2-0 ENGLAND (PODOLSKI) Well, if you don’t succeed at first, try, try again. England torn apart once more and Podolski finds himself in acres on the left of the England penalty area. His touch is poor, but his finish is wonderful. England are a mess at the moment.

30: Well, that could be all but over right there if it wasn’t for David James. Again, Germany pick up the pace and like a knife through butter slide Klose through on goal, Upson again nowhere to be seen. James makes a brilliant save with his legs though and England live another day.

28: England need to pick up the pace here. It all looks a bit flat. Upson aimlessly knocks it long and out for a goalkick. He’s the worst player on the pitch.

25: Barry shoots straight at the keeper from distance, while Klose causes Upson more problems. Mowbray points out he’s had a torrid season at club level, and it’s in reference to Klose. He could quite easily be talking about Upson though.

23: Plenty of replays being shown of that Klose goal, and it really is poor from England. Upson was at fault as much as anyone. I suppose it’s not like he’s been at the heart of a defence that’s leaked goals for fun this season.

20: GOAL: GERMANY 1-0 ENGLAND (KLOSE). That’s schoolboy defending, absolutely schoolboy. Upson and Terry are all over the place, long ball over the top, Klose onto it and gives James no chance. That’s abysmal defending.

18: Lampard fouled – decent position for a free-kick here, 30 yards out and central. He’ll take it himself too, Lamps. Straight into the wall. Rooney struggling to get into the game, by the way. Just lacking that bit of confidence and X factor he’s had for United all season. Could do with a goal most probably.

17: England let Khedira shoot from distance, but it’s high and wide on the left foot. All pretty tense.

14: England look to have settled quicker here, particularly in possession. Need to make more of it though.

10: England seeing more of the ball but as the entire English midfield pushed forward, momentarily it looked as though Germany could break 4 on 3. Fizzles out though.

7: Both teams just trying to settle into the game. Pretty tense, and plenty of nervous touches. That early Ozil chance the only sight of goal so far.

4: Best chance of the game so far falls to the Germans. Pretty direct in their approach, Ozil gets between Cole and Upson but James shins it over the bar. Good goalkeeping – and again as he claims the corner confidently.

2: Pretty even start, if anything England just shading it.

3.00pm: England, all in red again, kick off.

2.57pm: So, just about ready to get underway. Come on England!

2.55pm: The German anthem is pretty depressing, I have to say. Although it does get better as it goes on. The England team definitely won the battle of the anthems though. Matthew Upson again loud and out of tune.

2.53pm: Just another thought. I’m not ready to go out of the World Cup yet, please.

2.52pm: The two teams are coming out of the tunnel. Anthems soon. Butterflies kicking in.

2.47pm: On the bright side, the two Englishmen still head the championship. Marathon, not a sprint and all that. Anyway, we’re less than 15 minutes away from the match of the World Cup so far.

2.45pm: So Vettel takes the first victory of the day for Germany. Hamilton 2nd and Button 3rd.

2.35pm: Hulkenberg has just gone out in Valencia. Not that I’m looking for omens or anything. Honest.

2.30pm: So who’s nervous? I promise I’m not going to mention the ‘p’ word during the 90 minutes, unless there is one. You won’t get that kind of service at any other English live blog this afternoon.

2.27pm: PS. England have knocked Australia over for 212 in the cricket – good effort that. Massive day of sport for England, and all against countries we rather like to beat. Exciting stuff.

2.22pm: Excuse the lack of updates just yet. I’m still watching the Formula 1. At the moment it’s set to finish Vettel – Hamilton – Button, which would lead to some interesting discussions post race. Button’s under investigation at the moment though, which isn’t ideal. Once this is over I promise to concentrate on the football!

2.17pm: So, a bit of housekeeping to do. Remember that if you want to view our latest updates you need to refresh the page manually (which you can, of course, do by hitting F5). If you want to get in touch write a comment in the box at the bottom or drop us a line at info@thetalkofsport.com!

2.12pm: Germany leading England in Valencia. I am, of course, talking Formula 1. Sebastian Vettel leads Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button. Can’t win them all, I suppose.

2.00pm: Welcome back! England team news just in – we’re unchanged for the first time in Fabio Capello’s 28-game stint as manager. That means Upson gets the nod ahead of Carragher and King, if you were wondering. Germany line-up: Manuel Neuer; Philipp Lahm, Arne Friedrich, Per Mertesacker, Jerome Boateng, Thomas Mueller, Sami Khedira, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Lukas Podolski, Mesut Ozil, Miroslav Klose.