It was a crushing defeat for England and the disallowed Lampard goal made it even more painful.
Itu00a0wasu00a0a crushing defeat for England and the disallowed Lampard goalu00a0made it even more painful. The Germans rubbed it in with reference to the British team's controversial goal in the 1966 world cup final played at Wembley
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| Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer watches the ball bounce over the line from a shot that hit the crossbar from Frank Lampard. Referee Jorge Larrionda judged the ball did not cross the line during the round of sixteen game in Bloemfontein, yesterday. PIC/GETTY IMAGES |
"England, England, England" went the vocal cries from the terraces at Free State Stadium as thousands of Pommy fans, for once, drowned out the drone of the vuvuzelas. The red-and-white flags of St George decked all round the stadium and the familiar English football chants made it look like a home game for The Three Lions.
But that was only an illusion. There was almost an equal number of German supporters in the stands; they seemed to sit still waiting for their moment to arrive.
It came with those two rapier strikes from strikers Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski midway in the first half. Roused into action, the Teutonic army unfurled their black, red and gold flags. England hit back with a headed goal from defender Matthew Upson eight minutes before the break and looked likely to score again. But England got the wrong end of the stick with Frank Lampard's instinctive lob clearly crossing the line off the underside of the German crossbar. How the Uruguayan referee did not see this will be a matter of conjecture for years.
England's fans could not believe the decision. "This is 1966 all over again," said English diehard Martin. "We were robbed. At 2-2, it would have been a totally different game. How could the referee not see what we all clearly did from up here?"
Though England lost, its passionate band of fans were not disgraced. English and German police officers kept an eye on rival groups of fans, keen to ensure the fierce rivalry and long history between the teams did not spill into disorderly conduct.
