Shearer's goal ends years of hurt

England 1: Shearer 53

Germany 0

Referee: P Collina (Italy).

Booked: England - Beckham 41. Germany - Jeremies 43, Babbel 89

"Shame it wasn't the final." In the midst of the mood of jubilation that had seized the England party on Saturday night in Charleroi, even the only negative football comment was said with a smile. It came from Alan Shearer. From someone so rooted in pragmatism, it represented an outbreak of wishful thinking indeed.

At the time it did not seem worthwhile pointing out that England had just won a bad match between two ordinary sides and that the thought of Shearer leading his colleagues out in the final would provoke guffaws from Lisbon to Amsterdam.

Not only have England not yet qualified for the runners-up spot in Group A, should they achieve the necessary draw with Romania in Charleroi tomorrow night to do so, England will then meet the winners of Group B, Italy, in the quarter-final. That that fixture is scheduled for the Heysel Stadium in Brussels on Saturday night is worryingly poignant.

From a purely football perspective, though, Italy versus England is always an occasion, and while Italy would begin as favourites, England may by then have rediscovered something of the quality that earned them a famously disciplined 0-0 draw in Rome three years ago. Maybe.

Discipline allied to momentum can take an average team a reasonable distance in tournament football. England may be just at the beginning of acquiring those attributes. As Shearer said as Saturday night became Sunday morning: "I hope so. We have to build on this. Things are certainly looking healthier than they were a few days ago."

Whitewashing Germany out of the competition's picture almost completely would have been sufficient in itself for that statement's existence, but in beating the old enemy for the first time in a tournament since 1966, England had much to celebrate regardless of the consequences of victory.

In losing for the first time in 34 years Germany were revealed as being in a state of deterioration more advanced than England's. Just.

When he who succeeds manager Erich Ribbeck in the coming weeks comes to pick a team for Germany's match in England in October, it would be surprising if more than five of Saturday night's starters reappeared.

Lothar Matthaus, at 39, was arguably Germany's best player. He will have retired by October - definitely. Without Matthaus Germany will need to be re-shaped. They will also need to find a decent centre-forward. If Carsten Jancker and Ulf Kirsten proved anything in Charleroi it is that they are not good enough. In doing so they also highlighted the fact that Shearer still is. If Shearer had played for Germany, England would have lost.

In 180 minutes in the Low Countries Shearer has had one chance. It was not easy despite the fact he was six yards out. David Beckham's free-kick eight minutes after half-time was not only typically fast, it came through a ruck of players including Michael Owen and Paul Scholes and was spinning. In meeting it instantly with his forehead, Shearer risked the ball ballooning into the stands. Instead, summing up the ball's flight and Oliver Kahn's position, Shearer guided the ball unerringly back across goal into the far corner. So simple, so difficult. And if the technique was impressive, so was the bottle.

Thus Shearer scored his 29th goal in 62 internationals. Jancker, meanwhile, continues to wait for his first. Twelve minutes after Shearer's header Jancker should have broken his duck.

England's inability to defend a routine corner left Kirsten poking the ball straight at the fortunate David Seaman, but when the rebound fell to Jancker eight yards from goal he should have ripped the net out. Jancker dragged his shot wide. Dismal finishing.

It proved to be Germany's last hurrah. Shortly before, Mehmet Scholl had collected Matthaus' precise pass beyond the England defence and drilled a diagonal shot inches wide.

Scholl should have hit the target at least. Prior to that even Jancker had shown some skill before shooting over. "We did not deserve to lose," said Ribbeck, understandably.

But, for all their possession, that was Germany's response. In the first half it had been a similar story. With England seemingly incapable of restraining their instinct to rush forward, countless times passes were either misplaced or controlled poorly. Owen was guilty of the latter, Dennis Wise and Paul Ince of the former.

Both midfielders improved in the second half although most of the play was still going past them in the other direction. As against Portugal, England wasted a vast amount of energy chasing the ball they had just given away. The new six-second goalkeeping rule appears to have bamboozled them too. The new rule demands an outlet capable of retaining the ball until support arrives. Owen has much to learn in that respect.

But so too has Beckham, who repeatedly went for the adventurous option when a short pass would have sufficed.

Those were the faults, some of them. The positives included Shearer, the performance of Martin Keown, albeit against Kirsten in the main, and the fact that Kevin Keegan withdrew Owen and Scholes when England went ahead. Liverpool's Steven Gerrard, who came on for Owen and did enough, could not be criticised for diffidence, but too many of his first-time passes went to green shirts.

And then there was the history. Those 34 years of hurt are over. Germany were beaten. England can move on, finally. Though that is very different from moving on to the final.