On 1 September 2001 Germany met England during the qualifying stages of the 2002 World Cup, at the Olympiastadion in Munich. England won the game 5–1, helped by a hat-trick from Michael Owen. Background Previous meetings The two sides had met on many important occasions. They had played in the 1966 World Cup Final at Wembley Stadium, in which England had beaten West Germany 4–2 after extra time. Four years later, in the quarter-final of the 1970 World Cup in Mexico, England failed to hold on to a 2–0 lead, losing 3–2 after extra time. West Germany then defeated England in the semi-final of the 1990 World Cup, this time on penalties. In Euro 1996, Germany again defeated England in a semi-final on penalties. England had beaten Germany in June 2000, during the Euro 2000 competition, with a 1–0 win at the Stade du Pays de Charleroi in Belgium. Alan Shearer had scored the winning goal in the twilight of his international career. Before that match, England had not beaten Germany/West Germany in competitive football since the 1966 FIFA World Cup Final. The previous meeting between the two teams had been in October 2000, in the final match at the old Wembley stadium; that match ended with a 1–0 victory for Germany, with a goal from Dietmar Hamann. England's manager Kevin Keegan resigned after that game. Tournament status The game was part of the qualifying tournament for the 2002 World Cup. Germany were the clear group leaders in the qualifying tournament before the game. With only the group winners advancing directly to the World Cup, the qualifying group table was: A German victory would have confirmed their qualification and seen England competing with Greece and Finland for a place in the play-offs. A draw would have resulted in Germany requiring just another draw from their final game, and England requiring two victories, a German loss, and an improvement in their goal difference. Germany had lost just one of their previous sixty qualification games, in qualification for the 1986 World Cup, and had been unbeaten at the Munich Olympic stadium since 1973. Indeed, the German Football Association were so confident that Germany would finish at the top of the qualifying table that they had arranged friendlies on the dates of the play-offs. England named four strikers in their squad, with Robbie Fowler and Andy Cole having started the recent friendly with