Alan Shearer scored England's winner - but the joy was short-lived
Credit:
RUSSELL CHEYNE
In the rich history of the England v Germany fixture, encompassing glory and despair, ignominy in 1938 and a kind of nobility in 1990 and 1996, one match has rather been forgotten, consigned to a secure trunk in the attic of popular memory, covered up on grounds of taste and dignity. That it should be England’s first and in fact only tournament victory over their old foes since 1966 makes its obscurity all the more peculiar. But the 1-0 win in Charleroi at Euro 2000 between two shamefully inadequate teams was so swiftly overshadowed by both sides’ elimination that any sense of triumph was promptly extinguished.