Michael Owen fired in a hat-trick as England exacted revenge against bitter rivals Germany with a 5-1 victory in Munich.
The Germans had only ever lost one World Cup qualifier on home soil and never been beaten in Munich until Sven Goran-Eriksson's side expunged those records.
Despite the convincing scoreline and performance, England found themselves trailing just over five minutes into the game after Carsten Jancker hit home at his club's home ground.
But that would end up turning into a morsel of consolation as Liverpool team-mates Michael Owen and Steven Gerrard scored first-half goals to turn the tie on its head.
Owen then added two more strikes after the break to complete his treble before fellow Red Emile Heskey wrapped things up with a fifth to leave the Germans on their knees.
England looked sloppy in the opening exchanges and Jancker capitalised by beating Rio Ferdinand and Sol Campbell to reach Oliver Neuville's header and steer past David Seaman for the opener.
But that lead lasted barely five minutes as a teasing David Beckham cross was headed cleverly into Owen by yet another Liverpool player in Nick Barmby and the striker made no mistake.
Sebastian Deisler then completely missed the ball from six-yards out and England made them pay when Gerrard slammed home an unstoppable shot from 25 yards deep into first-half stoppage time.
England came out all guns blazing after the break and immediately struck gold after Heskey nodded down another Beckham cross for Owen to give the visitors a two-goal cushion.
And the Liverpool ace didn't have to wait long for his hat-trick as Gerrard sent him through on goal after 66 minutes to blast past Oliver Kahn into the top corner.
Heskey had been the perfect strike partner for Owen all game and finally had his moment in the sun when Paul Scholes found him in the penalty area with 15 minutes left.
The big man held off Marko Rehmer's challenge and calmly slotted under an exasperated Kahn to round off the scoring on arguably the most memorable England game since 1966.
That was the signal for Germany fans to empty the stadium but the 6000 travelling fans remained in their seats long after the final whistle to revel in the special occasion.
England: 1 David Seaman, 2 Gary Neville, 5 Rio Ferdinand, 6 Sol Campbell, 3 Ashley Cole, 7 David Beckham, 4 Steven Gerrard, 8 Paul Scholes 11 Nick Barmby, 10 Michael Owen, 9 Emile Heskey
Substitutes: 16 Steve McManaman for Barmby 65, 15 Owen Hargreaves for Gerrard 75, 14 Jamie Carragher for Scholes 83
Substitutes not used: 13 Nigel Martyn, 12 Gareth Southgate, 17 Robbie Fowler, 18 Andy Cole
Goals: Owen 12, 48, 66, Gerrard 45+4, Heskey 74
Germany: 1 Oliver Kahn, 2 Christian Worns, 3 Jens Nowotny, 4 Thomas Linke, 7 Marko Rehmer, 6 Dietmar Hamaan, 8 Michael Ballack, 3 Jorg Bohme, 10 Sebastian Diesler, 9 Carsten Jancker, 11 Oliver Neuville
Substitutes: 14 Gerland Asamoah for Worns 46, 18 Miroslav Klose for Ballack 67, 15 Sebastian Kehl for Neuville 78
Substitutes not used: 12 Jens Lehmann, 13 Oliver Bierhoff, 16 Franck Baumann, 17 Christian Ziege
Goals: Jancker 6
