I think I watched the wrong one . . .
Germany hosted Kazakhstan in the Stadion Nürnberg and once again played without an out and out striker. Mario Götze played "up front" as he did last Friday when Germany played in Kazakhstan.
I saw very little of this match, just a little at the start of each half. In fact the only thing I saw really was a howler by Manuel Neuer to let Schmidtgal score for Kazakhstan! Still, this was. More than matched by s BVB scoring triumph with Marco Reus scoring in the 23rd and 90th minutes, Mario Götze in the 27th and Ilkay Gündogan in the 32nd so Jogi will not be too disappointed I think. Jürgen Klopp might be feeling proud of his lads as well!
England, well, this wasn't too much fun to watch. Rooney scored in he fifth minute and also nearly caught the Montenegran keeper stumbling off his line with a lob over the top that caught the post. But too many chances were missed in the first half to leave it at 0:1 at the break.
England struggled in the second half and they lost the midfield. They were under the cosh for 20 minutes or so easily. Eventually they conceded a scrapy goal after Joe Hart made an initial save. From that save a game of pin ball ensued in a crowded box. It was no more than Montenegro deserved, one could easily argue that they deserved more from their second half performance.
For what felt like ages no changes were made from the bench although Lampard and Defoe were there and perhaps could have kick started England again. Eventually Ashley Young came on but it was too little, too late. There was a late surge in the last few minutes, especially in the three minutes of extra time but it ended 1:1.
There is a lot to play for in Group H. England are now two points behind Montenegro but with both Poland and Ukraine only four points behind. Germany on the other hand, are eight points clear at the top of Group C looking comfortable.