Germany’s reputation precedes them – but this team are the ersatz version | Jonathan Liew

Grit, hunger, nerves of steel … none of it is evident in a side that lurched through its group. England must ignore the mythology

Let’s try a quick thought exercise. Team A, ranked No 4 in the world, comfortably topped its group and is on a run of nine games without defeat, with a defence that has conceded just five goals in its last 17 matches. Team B, ranked No 12, scraped through its group with four points and wildly inconsistent performances, hasn’t kept a clean sheet in six games and lost 6-0 as recently as November. Team A is playing at home. Who do you think should start as favourites?

Treat this game as a blind taste test, with the labels and the history and the emotional baggage stripped away, and England v Germany feels like a simple enough proposition. It’s by no means a foregone conclusion, but all things being equal England should probably win, especially with home advantage. But of course tournament football, especially at international level, is not played in a vacuum. Mythologies and mentalities matter. Imponderables impinge. History – well, you can embrace it or you can ignore it, but you can’t erase it. It’s there, staring you down, whether you want to look at it or not.

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from Football | The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/jun/27/germany-reputation-england