Latest News
Saturday 17 June 2000 News 1
EURO 2000: ENGLAND NEWS
KEEGAN TURNS THE CLOCK BACK
Kevin Keegan is ready to turn the clock back to the start of his Euro 2000 preparations to come up with the team that carries the nation's hopes in the make-or-break group match with Germany in Charleroi.
Keegan is set to name the side that began the first warm-up international against Brazil at Wembley three weeks ago. That will mean places for Martin Keown and Dennis Wise, who will return to the starting line-up at the expense of the injured Tony Adams and Steve McManaman. England certainly looked more solid as a unit in that game than they did against Portugal on Monday and restricted the Brazilians to a single chance in the 1-1 draw.
Keown was an obvious choice once Keegan opted to stick with a 4-4-2 system rather than copy the 3-5-2 formation employed by his German counterpart Erich Ribbeck. It was only a few months ago the 33-year-old was described by the England coach as "my number one defender". The Arsenal star has got the nod ahead of Gareth Southgate to partner Sol Campbell, who remains upbeat about his own form despite recent criticism of his performances.
Wise will help give England more backbone in terms of containing the Germans after Paul Ince often found himself isolated and overrun by Luis Figo, Rui Costa and Co in Eindhoven.
Up front, Keegan will be looking for Michael Owen to again show himself the player for the big stage after he substituted the Liverpool player at half-time against the Portuguese. Owen scored his wonder goal against Argentina in the 1998 World Cup and also maintained his knack for scoring against the best with his strike against Brazil. He and skipper Alan Shearer, who has gone seven games without a goal for his country, will be looking to prove their partnership can work at international level.
Shearer insisted: "We have got the ability as a partnership to score goals if we get the chances. The best reaction for Michael after Monday is to go out and do the business on Saturday."
Keegan will be looking for Owen's pace to exploit 38-year-old Lothar Matthaus after open dissent in the Germany squad about him remaining in the side. Keegan believes it sends out negative vibes to keep being reminded that it is 34 years since Germany were beaten by England in a competitive match. But Phil Neville insists Manchester United's Champions League triumph over Bayern Munich can help England obtain a psychological edge.
Five of the Bayern team who played in that final - Oliver Kahn, Markus Babbel, Matthaus, Jens Jeremies and Carsten Jancker - will be facing Neville and Co in Charleroi. Neville said: "England haven't beaten Germany at international level for a long time but hopefully what happened in last season's final for United can help us. Maybe the experience of what happened that day will plant a few seeds of doubt in their mind regarding Saturday."
England will also be wearing the same colour red shirts as on that famous day in 1966 when they defeated the Germans to win the World Cup final at Wembley. Keegan said: "We like playing in red, the England supporters like us to play in red - and hopefully after the game the Germans will not have liked us playing in red. I do like the red shirts - and let's hope it brings us the same result as in 1966!"
He added: "One great thing we have got is having the right players to take part in big games. The spirit is also fantastic and as long as we keep believing in ourselves I think we can still make progress. It is still not impossible for us to win the group if results go in our favour."
England Team: David Seaman, Phil Neville, Gary Neville, Sol Campbell, Martin Keown, David Beckham, Paul Ince, Dennis Wise, Paul Scholes, Alan Shearer, Michael Owen