Wembley: Twenty-five years later after their infamous tie in 1986, both Germany and England will once again lock horns for a place in the Euro 2020 quarterfinals at Wembley on Tuesday. It will also be England’s 300th international game at the venue.
England have never won a European Championship knockout match inside 90 minutes – four games have gone to penalties with Three Lions progressing only once via this method — that too against Spain in the 1996 edition of the tournament.
It was in the same tournament and at the same venue, that Gareth Southgate’s missed penalty against Germany knocked England out in the semis. Germany did not have a smooth start to the tournament faltering against France before sharing points with Hungary.
German boss Joachim Löw never seemed unenthusiastic and is deemed to align the most coherent team possible. With Manuel Neuer guarding the post, and a rock-solid defense of Mats Hummels, Antonio Rüdiger, And Matthias Ginter, England will have a tough time scoring.
Joshua Kimmich and Toni Kroos along with sensational Robin Gosens will be back bossing the midfield while Serge Gnabry, Kai Havertz and Thomas Muller team up in the frontline. Leon Goretza has also found his place in the side after the Hungary equaliser.
On the other hand, England coach Southgate understands the importance of the match and is most likely to set up a lethal XI. The England boss refused to compromise with the mental state of Mason Mount and Ben Chilwell, who are isolating and would leave them out mostly.
Jordan Pickford will start under the bar with Kyle Walker, John Stones, Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw in front of him. The midfield will be formed by Declan Rice, Kalvin Phillips and Phil Foden while Harry Kane, Jack Grealish and Raheem Sterling face the German defenders.
Elsewhere, Sweden will be taking on Ukraine for a spot in the quarterfinals. Sweden topped their group as they paved their way into the knockouts while Ukraine qualified shortly with a negative goal difference.
Wearing Sweden’s colours tonight will be Robin Quaison, Dejan Kulusevski and Bologna midfielder Mattias Svanberg along with Victor Lindelof and captain Andreas Granqvist while Robin Olsen keeps the post.
Ukraine will be coming into the game with Victor Tsyhankov and Oleksandr Zubkov, struggling with calf injuries. Andriy Shevchenko is expected to play Ruslan Malinovsky against Ukraine to help the forwards.
