England out for revenge over Germany

Germany will face an England side out for revenge here on Saturday, as both sides near the end of their campaigns to reach the World Cup finals.

The qualifier at Bayern Munich's Olympic stadium comes at a decisive moment for the hosts, who are six points clear of England in group nine and can book their ticket to Japan and South Korea by beating Sven Goran Eriksson's side.

They also have an enviable record on home territory, where they have not lost to an England side since 1965, along with a psychological edge after their 1-0 victory at Wembley last October.

However, clashes between these two sides are among the classics of world football, alongside Brazil's battles with Italy and Argentina, and are therefore all the more unpredictable.

Though the odds are stacked in Germany's favour, only a fool would consider the outcome of Saturday's clash a foregone conclusion and German coach Rudi Voeller, for one, is no fool.

"A game against England is a highlight," said the 1990 World Cup winner who took over as national coach in the wake of Germany's debacle at Euro 2000.

"Everyone has to take it to the limit. There are no favourites, even though we're playing at home," he told the German media this week.

England certainly believe they can pull off a victory which, if followed up with another against Albania in Newcastle next Wednesday, would leave them level on 16 points with Voeller's team, and both sides with a game to play.

Goal difference would then come into play, followed by goals scored and head-to-head results.

TALL ORDER

It's a tall order, but Liverpool's influential midfielder Steven Gerrard, who will probably be detailed to mark German playmaker Sebastian Deisler, summed up the buoyant mood of the England camp.

"It would be nice to get one over on Germany because they rubbed it in a little bit when they beat us at Wembley," he said before flying out.

Gerrard, who was in the stands last October after being ruled out by injury, said: "It was absolutely devastating watching the game. It was a bad blow for the country.

"Hopefully we can do the same thing and turn them over on Saturday."

Skipper David Beckham is on the same wavelength.

"Obviously, we all know we let ourselves down at Wembley but the way we felt after the game is what we want the Germans to feel after Saturday," he said soon after arriving in Bavaria.

England can also draw on the fact they have proved the statisticians wrong in the past.

Before the two sides met at Euro 2000, England's failure to beat Germany in a competitive match over the 34 years since the 1966 World Cup final had also made them outsiders, only for skipper Alan Shearer to head home the only goal of the game.

On Saturday, England will be looking to the electrifying pace and clinical finishing of Michael Owen to breach the German defence.

Owen made one and scored another in Liverpool's Super Cup victory over Bayern Munich last week and his partner this weekend, on current form, ought to be his same partner that night in Monaco -- Emile Heskey.

Gerrard and Paul Scholes will hold the central midfield, with Rio Ferdinand and Sol Campbell in defence.

Germany will be looking to Carsten Jancker, who scored against Liverpool last week, and strike partner Oliver Neuville, to be supported by the much-touted young playmaker Deisler.

Their big advantage, perhaps, is the granite figure of Bayern's Oliver Kahn between the posts.

Kahn shares the view that Saturday is bigger than just a World Cup qualifier. "This is more than a football game," he told Bild on Thursday. "You feel history here. Wembley 1966, the World Cup battles of 1970 and 1990, the European championships in 1996."

Beckham may believe that England can win, but he too knows that historically, it is one of the toughest encounters.

"I think the German teams are always strong," he said. "Whatever anyone says about them, they're the masters at getting the results they need."

On Saturday, Germany hope the England skipper will be proved right.

Possible teams:

Germany: Oliver Kahn; Christian Woerns, Jens Nowotny, Thomas Linke, Marko Rehmer; Dietmar Hamann, Michael Ballack, Joerg Boehme; Sebastian Deisler; Oliver Neuville, Carsten Jancker

England: David Seaman, Ashley Cole, Sol Campbell, Rio Ferdinand, Gary Neville; Nick Barmby, Steven Gerrard, Paul Scholes, David Beckham; Emile Heskey, Michael Owen