England

0-0

Germany

 

 


World Cup Finals 2007
Group A
1pm (8pm local time), Friday 14 September 2007
Hongkou Stadium, Shanghai

Hope Powell paid tribute to her players for earning a fantastic point against World and European Champions Germany, but was quick to stress the importance of the encounter with Argentina on Monday in Chengdu.

Having been disappointed to only draw with Japan on Tuesday evening, the story was very different this time around in Shanghai as England were understandably elated by a stirring performance to secure a point against Silvia Neid's team and give them a chance at reaching the quarter finals.

"The performance was excellent, it was very tough for us, as I said before Germany are a great team," Powell explained.

"Within this tournament, to get a point from the World Champions is a great achievement, the girls worked so hard and got their just rewards. In terms of what it means for us in this competition, it's fantastic, but it's important that we refocus as we have another game against Argentina.

"It will be a tough game and we now go into preparation mode, but today I am happy with the point and I thought the way they performed, they were magnificent."

England made two changes to the team that faced Japan, and Powell admitted that the level of familiarity between the two sides was a factor in how she worked out the gameplan.

"We know each other inside out, and just looking at them over the last few months we have tried to stifle their strengths, so I decided to play as we did.

"From my perspective as a coach, my job is to identify where we can stifle strengths and use our attributes against them to counteract that. It's been over the last year watching them."

England skipper Faye White earned the 'Player of the match' award after the game, and Powell echoed that sentiment with praise for her captain.

"I thought Faye, considering the trauma she has had, she has done very well to come back from a very bad injury.

"She coped with it magnificently well, and I'm really proud of her - she has worked tremendously hard to get where she is, back in the side, back as captain and she is a fantastic leader. She has a real passion and desire to succeed.

"I'd also like to highlight Katie Chapman, she sometimes goes unnoticed, but she was absolutely outstanding. Considering she got a yellow card early in the game, which means she misses the next game, to rise above that and perform the way she did should not go unnoticed.

"The both of those players were exceptional; they rose to the challenge and really enjoyed it."
Teams:

England: 1 Rachel Brown, 2 Alex Scott, 3 Casey Stoney, 4 Katie Chapman, 5 Faye White (c), 6 Mary Phillip, 7 Karen Carney (11 Rachel Yankey 56), 8 Fara Williams, 10 Kelly Smith, 12 Anita Asante, 16 Jill Scott

Substitutes: 9 Eniola Aluko, 13 Siobhan Chamberlain, 14 Rachel Unitt, 15 Sue Smith, 17 Jody Handley, 18 Lianne Sanderson, 19 Vicky Exley, 20 Lindsay Johnson, 21 Carly Telford

Coach: Hope Powell

Germany: 1 Nadine Angerer, 2 Kerstin Stegemann, 5 Annike Krahn, 6 Linda  Bresonik, 7 Melanie Behringer (19 Fatmire Bajramaj 63), 8 Sandra Smisek, 9 Birgit Prinz (c), 10 Renate Lingor, 14 Simone Laugehr, 17 Ariane Hingst, 18 Kerstin Garefrekes

Substitutes: 3 Saskia Bartusiak, 4 Babett Peter, 11 Anja Mittag, 12 Ursula Holl, 13 Sandra Minnert, 15 Sonja Fuss, 16 Martina Mueller, 20 Petra Wimbersky, 21 Silke Rottenberg

Coach: Silvia Neid

Attendance: 27,730