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Attendance: 81,382
England national football team
International Friendlies
Nov 10, 2017 at 8pm UK
 
Germany national football team

0-0

FT

Inexperienced England hold world champions Germany to stalemate

England hold world champions Germany to a 0-0 draw at Wembley despite naming their least experienced starting lineup since 1980.

An inexperienced England side have held world champions Germany to a goalless draw at Wembley this evening.

Joachim Low's visitors - who were the only team to qualify for next summer's World Cup without dropping a point - came closest to scoring on the night when Leroy Sane hit the crossbar and saw an effort cleared off the line.

However, neither side could break the deadlock as England ended Germany's seven-match winning streak across all competitions and prevented their great rivals from scoring for only the second time in their last 14 meetings.

England striker Tammy Abraham sees a shot blocked during his side's friendly with Germany at Wembley on November 10, 2017© Offside

Seven withdrawals from the hosts' squad meant that Gareth Southgate was forced into naming the least experienced England starting lineup for 37 years, including debuts for Jordan Pickford, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Tammy Abraham.

Pickford was called into action within a minute of his international bow when he was sold short by Harry Maguire's back-pass, but he reacted in time to beat Timo Werner to the ball and England were quickly up the other end to create an early chance of their own.

Jamie Vardy was released in behind the defence and, while Abraham was unable to get anything on his low pass across the face of goal, the ball did go all the way through to Kieran Trippier, who could only fire his effort into the side-netting.

Germany came close themselves after just eight minutes in an end-to-end start to the match when Sane won the ball off Phil Jones inside the penalty area, only to then drag his effort into the side-netting.

Sane would come closest to breaking the deadlock in the first half, though, and the first of his major threats came in the 20th minute when he unleashed a powerful strike which crashed off the underside of the crossbar with Pickford beaten.

The visitors were back on the front foot again just three minutes later, and it took some heroic defending from England to keep the score level as Pickford denied Werner when one on one before Jones produced a fine goal-line clearance to deny Sane after the rebound had fallen to the Manchester City man. The second rebound also fell to a German player, but Julian Draxler blazed his effort over the crossbar as England survived.

Jones's goal-saving block proved to be his final contribution as he limped off with an injury to be replaced by Liverpool's Joe Gomez, making it four debutants on the pitch for Gareth Southgate's side.

All of the new England faces applied themselves well in the first half, and none more so than Pickford who continued to impress with saves to deny Antonio Rudiger and then Werner, the latter of whom was once again thwarted when he only had the keeper to beat.

It was England who ended the half on top, though, and they almost broke the deadlock with three minutes remaining when Abraham's effort looped off Rudiger before dropping agonisingly past the post with Marc-Andre ter Stegen beaten.

Jake Livermore then dragged an effort wide before Loftus-Cheek's pass sent Vardy through on goal, but the Leicester City striker could not lift his finish over the onrushing Ter Stegen as England continued to knock on the door.

The hosts picked up where they left off at the start of the second half too, but Vardy saw his downward header clawed away by Ter Stegen after being found unmarked by Trippier's cross.

Germany soon regained control of possession, although they found clear chances tougher to come by against a well-drilled and disciplined England defence.

Indeed, Vardy's header proved to be the last clear sight of goal until stoppage time as Southgate's inexperienced side held their own against the world champions, with Jack Cork's late introduction making it five debuts for the hosts.

England should have won it with the final action of the match too as Marcus Rashford's free kick was nodded down by Maguire to Jesse Lingard, who blazed his effort over the crossbar from close range.

While Southgate's side were left to ponder what might have been as a result of that late miss, they still came away with a decent draw under the circumstances ahead of another glamour friendly on Tuesday when they welcome Brazil to Wembley.

However, England are still without a win over Germany on home soil since 1975 and have failed to emerge victorious in any of their four friendly matches under Southgate's stewardship.

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Phil Jones in action during the World Cup qualifier between England and Slovakia on September 4, 2017
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