Berlin - Franz Beckenbauer says whenever he climbs into a taxi in London the driver invariably has one subject on his mind: whether it was a goal or not. The 1966 World Cup final - and Geoff Hurst's controversial strike off the underside of the bar for England's third in the 4-2 win - is still a cause for intense debate in both countries.
Yet it is not only that match that has gone down in the annals of football history. One of the oldest rivalries in the game - often tinged by old animosities resulting from two world wars - has come up with some classic encounters over the last few decades.
Helmut Schoen, the German coach from 1964 to 1978, preferred to look back on another match at Wembley, when West Germany overcame England 3-1 in the quarter-finals of the European Championships in 1972.
"When I'm feeling nostalgic and want to see really good football than I put on the cassette "England 72", sit on the sofa and indulge in reminiscences," Schoen, who died in 1996, wrote in his autobiography.
"If we let in fewer than five goals here it will be a great result," midfielder Guenter Netzer had said to Beckenbauer in the changing rooms before the game.
Netzer then went out to produce his finest performance for West Germany in a match still regarded as one of the best by the national team.
It was not until 1968 - 60 years and 12 matches after the first meeting - that the Germans won their first game against England, with Beckenbauer scoring the only goal of the game in Hanover.
And the "kaiser" got his revenge for 1966 when West Germany came from two goals down to beat England 3-2 in Leon in another classic encounter at the 1970 World Cup hosted by Mexico.
Beckenbauer again scored, before Uwe Seeler with a memorable back-header and Gerd Mueller in extra-time turned the game round.
"It was a special day, especially because I felt we had beaten the very best England team. I remember my battle with Sir Bobby Charlton as if it were yesterday," Beckenbauer has been quoted as saying.
Beckenbauer will also hardly forget the 1990 World Cup semi-final in Turin when, now in charge of the national team, he saw a dramatic penalty shoot-out go Germany's way.
A penalty shoot-out was also to be England's downfall in the semi-final of Euro 1996 in another dramatic Wembley encounter, when Gareth Southgate failed from the spot.
That World War II had not been entirely forgotten was demonstrated by a couple of controversial English tabloid newspaper headlines which soured the build-up to the game.
When the two countries met in October 2000 in the last match at the old Wembley stadium before it was closed for redevelopment, it was another victory - 1-0 - for Germany, and one which prompted the immediate resignation of coach Kevin Keegan.
The Germans also defeated England 2-1 in August 2007 - the last encounter between the two nations - when the teams met to mark the inauguration of the new Wembley.
Although Germany have had the better of more recent meetings, England can also point to some successes, including a 1-0 victory at Euro 2000.
And fans in England still glow in the memory of a 5-1 defeat of Germany in Munich in September 2001 in a World Cup qualifier, when Michael Owen scored a hat-trick.
England are still one of the few teams with a better record over Germany, with 14 wins, 10 defeats and six draws. And Germany have never beaten England in Berlin in seven attempts.
