This photo has North London written all over it

The international break continued in full flow with the Saturday lineup of games taking center stage. Olivier Giroud had previously scored for Les Bleus in the 3-2 win over the Netherlands but in Germany vs. England, I was looking forward to an exciting game of football. Both teams featured strong lineups even though I was a bit concerned about the German back line because it oozed of inexperience.

From an Arsenal perspective, Mesut Ozil and Danny Welbeck were on the opposing ends of the divide but when Mario Gomez’s goal was wrongly ruled out for offside, I knew that we had a game on our hands. The game sprung into life when Toni Kroos used his left foot to blast a shot that beat Jack Butland on his near post. The goalie seemed to have pulled up short in the buildup to the goal and was replaced by Southampton’s Fraser Forster. Gomez wasn’t to be denied a second time as he rose highest to guide a cross into the net with Forster rooted to the spot.

Then Hodgson made the changes that turned the game on its head – bringing on Jamie Vardy and Ross Barkley for Danny Welbeck and Adam Lallana.

Prior to that moment, Harry Kane had scored a fantastic goal, showing good control to evade his marker before blasting the ball past Manuel Neuer. I wonder whats up with the transparent face mask though. I must have thought that his nose would have healed eons ago. Then came a moment of sheer audacity from a player high in confidence – Vardy flicking Nathaniel Clyne’s drilled cross into Neuer’s net despite some pressure from Antonio Rudiger.

At 2-2, the game was delicately poised and with time running out, the team that managed to score one more goal would put the game beyond doubt. Germany attacked and the ball fell kindly to Andre Schurrle on the right. I still don’t know whether he was trying to shoot the ball or whether he was trying to pass it but it was a wasted opportunity for the world champions. Late on, Eric Dier reacted first to a corner kick and headed the ball past Neuer to make it three!

2-0 down, 3-2 up! I honesty didn’t see that coming. The English side has been renowned for being perennial underachievers but this current crop has some enthusiasm in the way they play and Hodgson has done well to reward players that have been in fine form at their respective clubs instead of them being in the team on some other criteria, that’s why I didn’t bat an eyelid when Theo Walcott didn’t participate in the game.

It’s still early days and the real business will be done in Euro 2016 but this was a very impressive result for the England side.

Hey, they still have two World Wars and one World Cup innit?

Sayonara.

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