Berlin - Fabio Capello had every reason to feel pleased but the brow if his counterpart, Joachim Loew, was furrowed after a makeshift England team gave Germany the run-around in a 2-1 victory in Berlin. Wednesday's friendly international had been criticized as meaningless after injuries had left England without eight mainstays.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger for one had questioned the relevance of an encounter at this stage of the year, especially after losing his striker Theo Walcott in a training injury on the eve of the match which could now mean a lengthy lay-off.
However, England manager Capello was delighted at the performance of some of his understudies, with several now pressing their claims to be now at the top of the queue for places in the side.
Midfielder Michael Carrick, wide players Stewart Downing and Shaun Wright-Phillips, and Gabriel Agbonlahor on his debut were among those who took their chances in the Olympic Stadium.
Defender Matthew Upson, who opened the scoring, also did well, while captain John Terry atoned with a late winning header for a howler of a mix-up with substitute keeper Scott Carson which had gifted Germany an equalizer through Patrick Helmes.
"We played very well, had a lot of chances to score goals and I liked the attitude of the team. We played with confidence, which is very very important, and with personality," said Capello who has been posed some pleasant selection considerations for the future.
The British media, some of whom had been dismissive of the game, on Thursday also highlighted the many plus points for Capello in a match which made up in some way for a 2-1 defeat by Germany at Wembley in August last year.
The Times wrote: "Like England themselves, none of the understudies have secured their passage to South Africa (2010 World Cup) just yet, but Capello will have taken heart from the performances of many of his reservists."
The tabloid Sun said the victory "completed a magnificent year in charge for Capello, who can do no wrong even when he is without most of his senior players."
In his 10 games since taking over, the Italian has won eight, drawn one and lost one. "Impressive in anyone's language," it said.
Loew, meanwhile, had been hoping for a similar sign for some of his younger players in the absence of captain Michael Ballack following injury and his midfield partner Torsten Frings, who had been rested, or the likes of left-back Philipp Lahm.
They were sorely missed in a bafflingly poor first-half display which ended with a crescendo of jeers from home fans. The central midfield axis of Simon Rolfes and Jermaine Jones - making his first start for Germany - struggled, while strikers Miroslav Klose and an again disappointing Mario Gomez were virtually cut off from the game.
Hoffenheim's central defender Marvin Compper looked out of place on his debut at left-back in an uncertain-looking defence.
"England were the better side over the whole of the game. We had a bad day and deserved to lose," Loew admitted.
"You can clearly see that England have improved. We didn't have the maturity to beat them."
Loew said his team were disorganized, often caught out of position and unable to put any decent moves together, leaving him perhaps to conclude that maybe Ballack and Frings were right to say that the veteran players should be treated with "more respect."
The criticism had angered Loew who addressed the squad on matters of behaviour this week.
Germany ended up being a touch too well-behaved against a sharper England side. No one was able to fill the shoes of the absent stalwarts, leaving the German media looking on aghast at one of the worst German performances of the Loew era.
"Here was a team on the field which lacked the players (Ballack and Frings) to stabilise it. They appeared helpless against an England B team," The Sueddeutsche Zeitung said.
"Were Ballack and Frings simply right? Loew is clever enough to know that it is just this question that will now be asked of him."
Stern magazine agreed: "This so unpleasant evening from Germany's point of view showed one thing above all: Ballack and Frings are irreplaceable for this team."
