England brought down the curtain on 77 years of football at Wembley Stadium in desperately disappointing fashion as a blunder by David Seaman handed Germany victory in a World Cup qualifier.
Seaman was caught napping by a 13th-minute free-kick from Liverpool midfielder Dietmar Hamann which he could only parry into his own net.
It was a massive anti-climax for the 76,000 crowd who had hoped to give England a winning send-off at the Twin Towers.
But England coach Kevin Keegan clearly got his tactics wrong and only in the final third of the match did his side look like salvaging a point.
Keegan had stubbornly reverted to a 4-4-2 system after the success of playing only one central striker in last month's morale-boosting draw with France in Paris.
But there was a clear public admission that he had got things wrong as for the second half he had switched back to 3-5-2 after his players had look confused in their approach.
The Germans were worthy winners, always looking more composed on the ball and better technically while England in contrast struggled to keep possession.
Andy Cole did himself credit up front but Michael Owen had an off day although in fairness both strikers were starved of any worthwhile service.
It was only when David Beckham became more involved in proceedings that England looked capable of earning a point.
But in fairness the Germans would have won by a more comfortable margin but for some dreadful finishing in the latter stages when England went for broke.
Although it is only the first game in a long qualifying group England now face an uphill task if they are to secure the automatic first spot in their group which guarantees qualification for the 2002 World Cup.
At the end of the game a day which had begun with so much expectation ended with boos as the England team left the famous turf for the last time.
FnU
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Thank you for loving me baby
You'll always be the one who drives me crazy
I think this is a gift from God to have you here..
Thank you for loving me baby
I'll treasure all your love and all the things we share..
And I wanna tell you, how much I love you.....
[This message has been edited by FATnUGLY (edited 08 October 2000).]