Germany and England share an old and unique rivalry in international football. The two nations have played several high-profile matches over the years which have often included some very controversial moments.
With the two sides are set to collide in the Round of 16 fixture of Euro 2020, fans can expect heavy fireworks and a match that goes right down to the wire.
Die Manschafft, however, aren’t focusing much on major penalty training ahead of their clash with England. Instead, they want to finish the game within the stipulated 90 minutes according to Kai Havertz.
“We are going into the game wanting to win it over 90 minutes,” midfielder Kai Havertz told a news conference at their team base in Bavaria on Sunday.
“It could of course go to penalties at this stage of the tournament so we have to be prepared. Obviously after training we hit a few penalties to see who the better penalty takers are.
“But it is not the biggest issue of the game. The 120 minutes before that could be far more important and putting too much pressure on yourself (with penalties) is not good.”
Any other country with the penalty record of Germany in major tournaments wouldn’t focus much on spot-kicks either as history favours them. The Germans have won every single World Cup penalty shootout and have two out of three Euro penalty shootouts. They lost only their first one against Czechoslovakia in the Euro 1976 Final but have got it right every single time since then.
Germany also defeated England on penalties at the Wembley Stadium in the semifinals of Euro 1996 on their way to their third European Championship title.
Both Germany and England have failed to impress at Euro 2020 so far. Germany thumped Portugal 4-2 but that was their only win of the group stages. They lost to France in their opening fixture and suffered a very nervous outing against Hungary in their final match having trailed the majority of 90 minutes. England haven’t been impressive either but they were efficient although they had an easier group to negotiate.
“It would be wrong to underestimate them. We know England well. They have some of the world’s best players and, yes, they also have room for improvement,” said Havertz
