Sterling and Kane on target as England knock Germany out of Euro 2020
England's Raheem Sterling celebrates after scoring his side's opening goal at Wembley. (John Sibley/Pool via AP)
This was the only way Gareth Southgate was ever truly going to get over the European Championship heartache.
The England manager has borne the burden of responsibility since his shoot-out miss against Germany in Euro '96.
He tried to deny it was not on his mind last night, but the way he celebrated this historic victory betrayed his true emotions.
Second-half goals from Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane sent England through to the quarter-finals and earned a rare championship quarter-final.
England just do not win knock out matches that often and this was their first victory in a decisive match against Germany since they won the World Cup here in 1966.
Germany were not very good, but they had their chances and bigger and better teams than England have found out in recent days that the outcome is all that matters in knock-out international football.
The knives could have been out for Southgate again when he seemed to delay making changes and go for the jugular when Joachim Low's side were there for the taking.
But he was justified in keeping his cool and sending on Jack Grealish for the final 20 minutes or so and the change was transformational.
The Aston Villa star, who came on for one of England's better players in Bukayo Saka, gets the crowd going and pulse racing like no other player in the current England set-up.
And it was he, after decent work from Kane, who played in Luke Shaw to slide in a low cross for Sterling to side foot home in the 75th minute.
Game over? Not quite as Germany had two good chances to level and more through Thomas Muller, but the stats say that when Sterling scores all will be well.
England had won all 12 previous matches when he has scored and were unbeaten in the 25 he had played for England at Wembley.
It was not until Kane, a passenger for most of the match, headed in a Grealish cross with four minutes to go that the party could really start.
By then Muller had crashed a free-kick into the England wall and then scuffed a shot wide with only Jordan Pickford to beat with just under ten minutes to go.
Southgate tried to play it cool – doing the international sign language for calm down, still work to do, etc – but he still hugged his players to a man as they did a post-match lap of honour to the dubious sounds of Neil Diamond.
The only way they will play at Wembley again, however, will be to win their quarter-final in Rome on Saturday.
What a transformation the finale was to the tense pre-match atmosphere when Wembley was full of hope, expectation, and fear.
For the first time in nearly two years, Wembley was over half full and what a lift it was. The atmosphere was massively boosted by the presence of almost 2,000 black, red, and yellow flag waving Germany fans in a 40,000 crowd and reached fever pitch when the teams came out onto the wet Wembley turf.
The German national anthem was pathetically drowned out by England jeers, boos, and whistles even if it did raise the tension another notch.
If anything, it seemed to unsettle England's relatively inexperienced team. The Germans, meanwhile, had a far more experienced line-up with World Cup winners and Champions League victors littered through their side. They probably expected worse from the home fans.
Southgate, as he pretty much had to, put his faith in a large chunk of youth to go with his more experienced players. Arsenal's teenager Saka starting ahead of Mason Mount, Grealish, and Phil Foden was perhaps the boldest call.
And then, they froze. An early German attack on the break, inspired by a Joshua Kimmich pass, ended with Kyle Walker heading behind for a corner and it set the tone.
It was just the start of the match, of course, but England looked much the more nervous of the two teams.
Some Saka skill broke the spell after 12 minutes and now the Germans looked anxious.
England had found it hard to get the ball off Germany. The Wembley crowd was whistling and brewing in frustration as they watched Germany patiently take the sting out of the game and control the flow and pace of the action.
Enough matches in the tournament to date have educated viewers not to be too quick to judge the outcome of a game, but this looked like being a long night for England from very early on.
That Kane did not get his first touch of the ball till after 20 minutes was an indication of the flow of the football and the Tottenham striker was only really involved in the area at the end of the first half.
By then Pickford had saved well from Timo Werner and honours were about even at the break.
The second half started with Pickford denying Werner's Chelsea team-mate Kai Havertz the opening goal with a brilliant one-handed save.
The ineffective Kane then held up proceedings by asking for treatment on a knee as Marcus Rashford started warming up in earnest on the touchline. The Tottenham striker returned after some brief treatment.
The action remained frenetic and disjointed, the crowd reacting to every forward pass like their favourite boxer throwing random punches; promising much but ultimately lacking – even if it lacked weight and purpose.
That was until Grealish came on and England finally played some expansive match-winning football – with Sterling and Kane getting the finishes that mattered.
What an atmosphere!
Pickford 7, Trippier 6, Walker 6, Stones 7, Maguire 6, Shaw 7, Rice 7 (Henderson 88), Phillips 7, Saka 6 (Grealish 68), Kane 6, Sterling 6.
Neuer 6, Rudiger 5, Ginter 5 (Can 87), Hummels 6, Kimmich 7, Havertz 6, Kroos 6, Werner 5 (Gnabry 68), Goretzka 6, Gosens 6 (Sane 87), Muller (Musiala 90).
Danny Makkelie (Ned) 6
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