Twenty years ago England shot the German national team out of the Munich Olympic Stadium at home. At the end of the day, the historical result was 1: 5 at the top of the scoreboard. While the German media spoke of a “disgrace”, the English celebrated their team with exuberant euphoria.
For the English press this night was like a picture. The Germans had finally been repaid. So many bitter defeats since the victorious World Cup final in 1966 at Wembley had left the English tired and angry. The 1: 5 debacle of the German national soccer team on September 1, 2001 in the Munich Olympic Stadium was the long-awaited satisfaction. No, for the English tabloid it was more than a little satisfaction – it was almost like revenge for all the sad moments of the past. Now they had shown it to the Germans – and they wanted to savor this moment to the full.
How deep the English antipathy was at that time became evident, around five years after their own elimination on penalties in the semi-finals at the home European Championship against Germany, on the morning after this unforgettable night in Munich. On the usual colorful pages, “The Mirror” published an obituary notice on which Oliver Kahn’s burning goalkeeper gloves could be seen in addition to the text: September 1, 2001 died in Munich, deeply unmourned by a large number of English fans. “
But that was by far not the highest of feelings of bad taste. While “The Sun” limited itself to the bold word “Demolition”, the “Sunday Mirror” knew no boundaries: Its headline was “Blitzed” – and was an allusion to the attacks by the German Air Force on Great Britain during World War II went down in history as “The Blitz”.
“The game will leave its mark”
For more than 70 years, the DFB-Elf had not lost as much at home as they did on this historic evening in the Olympic Stadium. With a win, the national team actually wanted to buy the ticket for the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea in this game. And it actually got off to a promising start when Carsten Jancker scored the 1-0 for the German team after just six minutes. But then suddenly the worm was inside.
The young Steven Gerrard scored for England.
(Foto: imago images/Mary Evans)
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The climax of this strange drop in performance was the moment when goalkeeper Oliver Kahn picked up a back pass from Sebastian Deisler with his hands. A symbolic scene! Shortly afterwards, the man of the evening, Michael Owen, compensated for the interim with the first of his three goals. And if Sebastian Deisler had then completely freestanding in front of keeper David Seaman put the ball in the English box to make it 2-1 – who knows how this evening would have gone? But then Steven Gerrard shot the fate of this legendary “Three Lions” gala with a long-range shot shortly before half-time.
After the break, led by a brilliant David Beckham, eleven Englishmen with the wrecking ball pulled through the completely disoriented German back team. Five goals by the team from the island made their many fans who had traveled with them celebrate exuberantly – and the supporters of the German national team left unsettled. ARD expert Günter Netzer was visibly dismayed at Gerhard Delling’s side after the end of the game: “The game will leave its mark. Today we were shown limits. We really have to be afraid of every opponent.”
But the awe remained
Ben Redelings is a passionate “chronicler of football madness” and a supporter of the glorious VfL Bochum. The bestselling author and comedian lives in the Ruhr area and maintains his legendary treasure trove of anecdotes. For ntv.de he writes down the most exciting and funniest stories on Mondays and Saturdays. More information about Ben Redelings, his current dates and his book with the best columns (“Between Puff and Barcelona”) can be found on his website www.scudetto.de.
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And the next opponent in the World Cup qualification was for “Rudis Rumpeltruppe” (“Stuttgarter Zeitung”) Ukraine. In two qualifying games, the DFB-Elf finally managed to buy the ticket to Asia. That was on the island – they had hoped they would have gotten rid of the German national team – but not so well received.
“The Mirror” wrote: “Bad news, folks. The Germans did it. We’d better start practicing penalties!” So the fear of another duel remained. And something else.
Because the memories of those unforgettable 90 minutes from September 1st, 2001 in the Munich Olympic Stadium are still a legend in England today. “The Independent on Sunday” wrote the headlines for eternity for this historic event without much hatred or malice: “England’s biggest night since 1966. The antidote for 35 years of pain. Owen is copying Hurst!” And as a German, you can simply leave these lines as they are.
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