MAN FOR MAN MARKING

Wednesday 26 June 1996 23:02 BST
Comments

ENGLAND

1 David Seaman Barely had a chance with the penalties. Excelled in keeping out Moller's drive in extra time but did not have much to do after conceding Germany's goal.

6 Gareth Southgate The crucial penalty miss spoilt an otherwise impressive performance. He had adjusted well to his third different position in England's rearguard.

5 Tony Adams Sound in the centre and was never exposed by opponents running at him.

3 Stuart Pearce His usual fearsome self in the tackle but gave the ball away too often with aimless heaves upfield.

4 Paul Ince Looked as if he had never been away. Filled the hole, linked well, tackled firmly and shot often.

11 Darren Anderton So preoccupied attending to Ziege that he rarely, until late in the game, got forward to good effect.

7 David Platt Recovered from inauspicious start to look rather more like the England player that he used to be.

17 Steve McManaman Only when German defenders tired did he escape from the blind alleys into which he was lured too often for England's liking.

8 Paul Gascoigne So hyped up at first it could have been the 1991 FA Cup final all over again. Made his presence felt intermittently thereafter.

10 Teddy Sheringham Taking a square pass from Adams one minute, linking in midfield the next, seconds later alongside Shearer, he got through a prodigious amount of work. 9 Alan Shearer Failed to make his subsequent headers count after his early goal. Sometimes found himself isolated up front.

GERMANY

1 Andreas Kopke Germany's penalty-saving hero. He dealt with Ince's early powerdriver, but was largely protected by his defence.

6 Matthias Sammer Immaculate performance whether he was at the back or going forward. He could possibly have got even more involved, though.

2 Stefan Reuter Coped well with the threat of McManaman, overlapped when he could and was cool under pressure.

14 Markus Babbel Let Shearer escape only once, after which he was a diligent marker of England's danger man.

5 Thomas Helmer Supplied a great cross for Kuntz's goal but never really recovered after hurting himself making a crucial tackle on Shearer.

17 Christian Ziege Attending to Anderton prevented him from getting forward as much as Germany would have wished.

4 Steffen Freund Unspectacular performance in midfield, but always made himself available.

21 Dieter Eilts Not the most charismatic figure, but Germany's man of the match for his many last-ditch tackles.

8 Mehmet Scholl The wunderkind faded somewhat before his substitution, having made several promising runs in the first half.

7 Andreas Moller Such a shame he will miss the final. Often came almost as deep as Sheringham - the difference being that his passes were less predictable.

11 Stefan Kuntz Struck his goal with rare aplomb for a striker who had gone 15 internationals and 21 months without one.

10 Thomas Hassler Opened up the game by flitting around everywhere once he came on.

3 Marco Bode Gave the Germans a much-needed fresh pair of legs when he came on in extra time.

19 Thomas Strunz Entered the fray too late to influence proceedings - apart from in the shoot-out.

REFEREE Sandor Puhl started off well but then, like so many others in this tournament, let the worst tackles go and booked the wrong men, especially Moller. Assessments by Nicholas Harling

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in