Internet Desk: There was emotional tears during the national anthem, there was outburst of emotion in the stands too and German star Lucas Podolski made his farewell memorable, as his sensational goal helps Germany to win the prestige battle against England in the International Friendly last night at Dortmund.
Podolski himself admitted that the end to his international career with Germany was “like a film”. In his last international game for Germany in his 13-year career, Podolski led the side out as captain and he smashed the ball into the top-right corner from 25 yards out to win it with just over 20 minutes remaining.
The harsh reality is that Gareth Southgate’s first match since taking the England job full-time ended in disappointment and Germany have still not conceded a goal since Euro 2016, a sequence incorporating seven games or, to put it another way, coming up for 11 hours of football.
Ultimately, though, England should not be too desolate bearing in mind their impressive contribution for long stages. A reasonable argument could be made that they were the superior team for the opening hour and, though Southgate will not want to make a habit of losing gallantly, he could be forgiven for thinking his new-look team deserved better than to lose to a spectacular 68th-minute goal from Lukas Podolski, making his final appearance for the German national side.
Podolski chose a good moment to score with a firecracker of a shot on a night when England’s new 3-4-3 formation, featuring a full debut for Michael Keane, coped ably and Southgate’s decision to try a new formation was justified by the overall performance.
Southgate’s selection was a nod to what Antonio Conte has done at Chelsea but it was certainly a calculated gamble to play that way after only one training session. The last time an England manager experimented with three centre-halves was in October 2006 when Steve McClaren was in charge of a fairly wretched defeat in Croatia. Before then it was Peter Taylor’s solitary game against Italy in January 2000. Kevin Keegan and Glenn Hoddle have had a dabble but this was only the third occasion since the turn of the century that an England side has dared to move away from an orthodox back four.