Arsenal great Jens Lehmann reveals why 'insular' England struggle at major tournaments

World Cup woes: England exited at the 2006 quarter-finals when Germany came third
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James Benge9 November 2017

Arsenal coach Jens Lehmann has revealed the differences in mentality between the “insular” England team and Germany ahead of the two sides’ meeting at Wembley on Friday.

Lehmann was part of the Germany squads that, despite low expectations, reached the 2002 World Cup Final, the semis on home soil four years later and the final of Euro 2008.

Over the same period an England side widely acclaimed as the ‘Golden Generation’ failed to live up to expectations and never made it beyond the last eight of a major tournament.

Lehmann saw signs at the 2006 World Cup that England lacked the strength of character required to go far in a major tournament. Sven Goran Eriksson’s would ultimately be eliminated by Portugal at the quarter-final stage.

“We wanted to finish top of our group, in order to be matched with a supposedly weaker runner-up in the next round, which potentially could have involved England,” Lehmann wrote in his autobiography, The Madness is on the Pitch, as published in the Daily Mirror.

“I had some acquaintances in the team’s entourage, who told me that the Three Lions would do everything in their power to avoid meeting us in the second phase. Hence if we were to finish second after all, they wanted to do so too so as not to get involved with us.

“'Typical English', I thought. Such a thing would never have crossed our German minds. If you want to be world champion, you have to beat everyone no matter where and how.

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“But we acknowledged this insular avoidance strategy with satisfaction - evidently, we were to be reckoned with once again.”

Though Lehmann never won a major title in his 61 appearances for Die Mannschaft he was part of a side that he noted consistently outperformed the limited expectations of the German public, whereas England invariably disappointed.

Those roles will likely be reversed at next summer’s World Cup in Russia, where Germany are defending champions whilst Gareth Southgate’s side are not among the pre-tournament favourites.