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Grudge match Beckham hoping to lead England to historic win
Updated: Saturday September 01, 2001 3:51 AM
MUNICH, Germany (AP) -- With team captain David Beckham convinced he will be fit, England is confident it will stop Germany from securing a World Cup finals place Saturday. Never beaten at home in World Cup qualifying action, the Germans are equally sure they will be booking their flights to next year's finals in South Korea and Japan. It's another of those dramatic Germany-England confrontations, this time in Munich's Olympic stadium. The Germans need simply to avoid defeat. The English need a win to stay in contention for the top place in Group 9, which means qualification for the finals. Otherwise, it's a nervous two-game playoff with one of the other runners-up. "We have to win. We have come here to win the game," said Beckham, whose team lost 1-0 to the Germans at Wembley 11 months ago to fall well behind before the arrival of Swedish coach Sven-Goran Eriksson. "There are a lot of players eager to do well. We all know we let ourselves down at Wembley. That's the way we want Germany to feel after Saturday.
"Not just because it was Germany, because it was our last game at Wembley (which is due for demolition)," said Beckham, who is confident he will have recovered from a groin injury suffered playing for Manchester United on Saturday. "Everybody wanted us to win and we were annoyed with ourselves and upset for the fans and everyone in the country. "This will be a way to get our own back on the Germans on Saturday." Beckham acknowledges, however, that the Germans, who have lost just one out of 60 World Cup qualifying games home and away, are experts at getting the result they want. "They are the past masters of getting the result they need," said the England captain. "They have got the right qualities. It's up to us to conquer that. Their unbeaten record is the past. This is the future. It's up to us to put an end to that." Surprisingly chosen as captain six games ago, Beckham now has the chance to achieve some glory against a team which has beaten England six out of their last seven meetings, twice in penalty shootouts. It's that record which makes the Germans so confident. "We will win the game. Teams don't beat Germany in World Cup qualifying games and they certainly don't beat us at home," says Oliver Kahn, widely rated as the world's top 'keeper. "We are very relaxed and, although a draw would be enough for us, we intend to win." Provided Beckham comes through a fitness test, England should be at full strength apart from the long-term injury to Kieron Dyer. The Germans will be missing key players Mehmet Scholl, Jens Jeremies, both injured, and suspended Carsten Ramelow. Both teams have made strong revivals under new coaches after abysmal performances at Euro 2000, where both were eliminated in the opening round after playing in the same group. Under former World Cup winner Rudi Voeller, Germany has regained confidence largely with the introduction of new young stars such as Sebastian Deisler and Michael Ballack. Although Voeller's team scored an edgy win over Albania, needed late goals in a 4-2 win in Greece and salvaged a 2-2 tie with Finland, it no longer labors over its victories. Missing several of its top starters, Germany scored a 5-2 victory over Hungary in a friendl in Budapest two weeks ago. Eriksson's appointment from Lazio split the nation, half of whom didn't want a foreigner as England coach. Starting with five wins in a row silenced the critics, but the Swede's team was then outplayed 2-0 at home by the Netherlands in a friendly just two weeks ago. England has the talent to unlock the German defense but also weaknesses at the back. It has a nucleus of talented young players such as Beckham, Michael Owen, Steven Gerrard and Paul Scholes. But there remain doubts about the quality of the defenders and 37-year-old goalkeeper David Seaman, who was at fault for letting in Dietmar Hamann's 35-yard (meter) free kick at Wembley. Goalkeeper Kahn knows all about the speed of Owen, having faced him just a week ago during Liverpool's 3-2 victory over Bayern Munich in the European Super Cup at Monaco. Owen scored in that game and Kahn faced five more of the England squad who were on that Liverpool lineup.
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