Iconic Moments in Football No.53
This week’s ‘Iconic Moment’ comes from the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and the Second Round match between Germany and England.
I’m sure that you’ve guessed which moment it is already! Yes, it’s the goal that never was from England’s Frank Lampard.
44 years before the match in Bloemfontein, England scored a hotly disputed third goal in their 4-2 win over West Germany in the 1966 World Cup Final. It featured in this series and you can read about it here.
German fans never quite got over that the goal was awarded to the hosts on that July afternoon in 1966. Indeed, Franz Beckenbauer refused to acknowledge that the ball ever crossed the line and after fans invaded the pitch when Geoff Hurst thumped in England’s fourth, ‘Der Kaiser’ felt that the game should have been replayed. This controversial goal would be referred to when German fans were asked about Lampard’s ‘goal’, saying that the decision not to award a goal was somehow payback for the 1966 World Cup Final.
I personally don’t think that it can be considered payback. After all, West Germany knocked England out of the 1970 and 1990 World Cups as well as Euro 96. If anything, England probably deserved an extra bit of luck to go their way!
Fabio Capello had guided England to the 2010 World Cup with relative ease. They won nine of their ten qualifying matches, their only slip up coming in a 1-0 defeat in Ukraine, who finished second in the group.
Despite a strong run in the qualifiers, England’s performance in South Africa was underwhelming to say the least. A place in the knockout stages was only confirmed in the final game in a narrow 1-0 victory against Slovenia. This followed a 1-1 draw with USA and a goalless draw with Algeria. Second place was confirmed meaning that a game against Germany awaited in the knockout stage.
Miroslav Klose and Lukasz Podolski had fired Germany into a commanding two-goal lead. Matthew Upson then headed in from a corner to halve the deficit and give England hope on 37 minutes. Moments later, England thought that they had equalised. The officials thought otherwise.
Jermaine Defoe tried to work his way through the German defence only for a defender to nick the ball away from him at the edge of the box. It came to Frank Lampard who spotted German goalkeeper Manuel Neuer off his line and hit a shot from 20 yards. Neuer dived but got nowhere near it and the ball crashed off the underside of the bar. It landed well over the line before bouncing back off the crossbar again and into Neuer’s hands.
Lampard and his team mates celebrated, delighted to be back on level terms. England coach Fabio Capello and the rest of the England bench were also cheering Lampard’s long distance effort. The elation that they were all feeling quickly turned to confusion and then anger. No one could understand why Jorge Larrionda, the Uruguayan referee hadn’t given the goal. Frank Lampard’s face was a picture, he held his head in his hands, looking shocked that the ‘goal’ wasn’t awarded.
This then to anger as he waved his arms and arguing that the ball had crossed the line. The England bench were also very animated in their reaction to the decision. Fabio Capello was livid, screaming out at the fourth official and linesman that a goal should have been given.
The English television coverage of the ‘goal’ didn’t show a replay for almost half a minute as Germany went on the attack. Lukasz Podolski fired a shot inches wide of David James’s far post before the BBC were able to show replays. This was also the first opportunity that the matchday comentators were also able to watch a re-run of the incident and their shock and disappointment is clearly noticeable on the video below.
I remember the incident well. I watched the game in my local pub and can vividly remember shouting “That’s a goal! That went in!” before a replay was shown. You could clearly see that it was a goal. With VAR now being used in major competitions across the world, incidents like this will never occur in a World Cup Finals.
As for the game itself, Germany won the game 4-1. Their blistering attack tore England apart with speedy counter attacks and the humiliating of losing by such a big scoreline hurt England fans for years. Another poor showing in the 2014 World Cup followed as England didn’t even qualify from the group stages, This was under the management of Roy Hodgson though after Fabio Capello left in x.
The most recent World Cup in 2018 was England’s best performance in 28 years, reaching the semi final before losing in extra time to Croatia. Gareth Southgate masterminded that particular World Cup run and has been the most popular England manager for years.
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