Germany at the 2002 FIFA World Cup

Germany had to play against England, Finland, Albania and Greece, managed by fellow German Otto Rehhagel. It was not to be an easy group, so much so as only the first placed team could qualify automatically.

The start was promising with four wins in a row, including a 1-0 win against England at Wembley. Since England could only manage a draw away at Finland, automatic qualification should have been a foregone conclusion. In the next game, there was a 2-2 draw against Finland, which was ironed out by winning away in Albania. In the following game, a draw against England would have seen Germany qualify automatically.

After nine minutes, Germany took the lead with a goal by Carsten Jancker but England soon equalised with a Michael Owen goal. After that, England were successful in almost everything they did. Germany did not offer anything on the break and the final score was a 5-1 for England. Automatic qualification was pushed back.

The last match of qualifying saw Germany play Finland and simultaneously England play Greece. Germany was hoping for the Greeks to give them a helping hand, by at least drawing with England. Greece led until the 90th minute, when David Beckham equalised from a free kick. If Germany had won, then they would have finished first and with that qualified automatically to the World Cup finals. However, Germany only managed a 0-0 draw and therefore finished in second place.

That meant that Germany had to play a play-off game and drew Ukraine. On 10 November 2001, the two teams played out a 1-1 draw in Kiev. Four days later, Germany finally qualified for the World Cup by winning 4-1. After only 15 minutes, Germany were leading the match 3-0.

After losing to England and not qualifying automatically for the World Cup saw Germany receive a large amount of criticism, claiming that German football is competitive. The convincing result against Ukraine was celebrated as a rebirth for German football.

Play-offs

Group 9 Final Table