Sven-Göran Eriksson

If the 5-1 victory over Germany in Munich represented the finest of Sven-Göran Eriksson’s five-year reign as England manager, it also represented one of the national team’s finest of all time. Germany had previously only ever lost one World Cup qualifier at home but, against the midfield of Michael Ballack, Sebastian Deisler and Dietmar Hamann, the then-youthful Steven Gerrard, Ashley Cole, Rio Ferdinand and more came of age as international footballers as they recovered from a goal down to secure a win as emphatic as it was crucial.

Winning the last ever international fixture at the old Wembley Stadium had contributed to Germany leading Group 9 and remaining on course to qualify automatically for the 2002 World Cup. Eriksson had since been appointed as Kevin Keegan's successor and had started to build a new, exciting and more youthful team that, led by David Beckham – perhaps at his peak – was again in contention to finish first.

An early finish from Carsten Jancker was soon followed by Michael Owen's first of the evening and, on the stroke of half-time, the first goal of future England captain Gerrard's international career. By the time Emile Heskey became the third Liverpool goalscorer of the evening, Owen had already emulated Geoff Hurst in scoring a hat-trick against England’s long-term rivals and transformed a group they eventually won. Speaking exclusively to The Coaches' Voice, the Swede revisits the tactics that underpinned that most famous of results.

Starting line-ups

GermanyEngland

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Germany3-4-1-2

England4-4-2

1Oliver Kahn

1David Seaman

5Jens Nowotny

2Gary Neville

2Christian Wörns

5Rio Ferdinand

4Thomas Linke

6Sol Campbell

7Marko Rehmer

3Ashley Cole

8Michael Ballack

7David Beckham

6Dietmar Hamann

4Steven Gerrard

3Jörg Böhme

8Paul Scholes

10Sebastian Deisler

11Nick Barmby

9Carsten Jancker

9Emile Heskey

11Oliver Neuville

10Michael Owen

Author: Tony Hodson