Germany 4 England 1:England are out of the World Cup after their worst ever defeat in a major tournament at the hands of old enemies Germany. Fabio Capello's side were ripped apart on four occasions by Mesut Ozil and co and, though they had a goal wrongly disallowed, were thoroughly outclassed in Bloemfontein.
Had England lost by just one Frank Lampard's effort that came off the crossbar and bounced at least a foot over the line would have been endlessly replayed and scrutinised but there was no doubting the difference between the sides as England's defence went awol and Germany took full advantage.
They were 2-0 up within 32 minutes after Miroslav Klose punished John Terry for not heading a goalkick clear and Lukas Podolski fired one in from a tight angle having been given the freedom of the English box by Matthew Upson and the Chelsea captain.
Upson got one back with his head and then Lampard saw his perfectly good equaliser waved away but England abandoned ship in the second half as Thomas Muller scored two on the break.
Capello, however, refused to blame his players for the tame exit and focused instead on the decision of assistant referee Mauricio Espinosa to wave away England's second goal.
"It was one of the most important things in the game," Capello told BBC 1. "The goal was very important. We could have played a different style.
“We played I think well at 2-1, but after the third goal it was a little bit disappointing.
“We played well. Germany is a big team. They played a good game. We made some mistakes when they played the counter-attack. The referee made bigger mistakes.
“Little things decide the result always.”
In a stormy few weeks, Franz Beckenbauer’s first attempt to stoke Anglo-German relations came when he branded England a long-ball team.
Yet a true exponent of the art would surely be pretty good at defending it.
England had already been warned. One long punt down field from David James required a single bounce to rocket over the goal-line, so there was no excuse for Terry being so far up field when Manuel Neuer launched the ball from his six-yard line that he was taken completely out of the play by its flight.
Upson was left one-on-one with Klose and had neither agility, nor the strength to prevent the striker advancing on James and poking the ball into the England goal.
It was the start of an exceptionally uncomfortable period for Capello’s side as Germany rampaged right through the heart of their midfield almost at will.
Ozil was an obvious problem, but Muller — the 20-year-old who helped destroy Manchester United with Bayern Munich this term — was emerging as the real danger man.
When he skipped off the right flank onto Klose’s short pass, the English defence was again ripped to shreds.
Despite his tender years, Muller retained a cool enough head to flick the ball square to Podolski, whose finish went straight through James’ legs and in off the post.
As James had already made two feet-first saves as German eyes lit up at a clear sight of goal, it seemed there was no way back for a team being completely outmanoeuvred.
Yet in a confrontation dripping with history, nothing is really new.
Upson’s reaction header from Steven Gerrard’s cross brought that dream a bit closer to being realised.
As they celebrated, little did England know that within 60 seconds their opponents were about to enjoy the ultimate act of revenge.
It is frankly ludicrous that Sepp Blatter and his Fifa mandarins continue to shrug their shoulders at such injustices as the one Lampard suffered when the entire stadium, through all manner of new technology, knew within minutes the ball had crashed off Neuer’s bar and bounced clearly over the line.
It was not even close, which is what David Beckham was presumably telling the South American officials as they made their way off at half-time.
Within seven minutes of the restart England were suffering again as Lampard let fly from fully 35 yards with a free-kick that again shook Neuer’s crossbar. At least this time there was no claim for a goal.
It sparked a frenzied second half though, by far the most compelling period of play in the entire tournament, Germany defending manfully, then trying to break on the counter.
Bastian Schweinsteiger had already come close to killing the game when another Lampard free-kick cannoned off the wall. Gareth Barry was neatly robbed, Muller set Schweinsteiger free and began a run that ended with him burying England’s World Cup dream.
Germany were not finished. With their opponents committed to desperate attack, Ozil raced past Barry with alarming ease and presented a gleeful Muller with a tap-in.
Gerrard admitted the disallowed goal had an effect but made no excuses for the heavy defeat.
"There were big key decisions in the game, at 2-1 we had a goal disallowed. At 2-1 we were hurting them and we were still in the game," he told BBC 5 Live. "I think it (the disallowed goal) had an effect but we cannot use that as an excuse with being beaten 4-1.
“That would have been a big goal for us. It’s all ifs and buts. Germany are a fantastic team and they deserved their win.
“You go away and you have a think about what went wrong and why we didn’t progress further in the tournament.
“As a team we’ve made a big mistake today and we’ve been beaten by a good team.
“They were more clinical in front of goal and they made less mistakes than us and we got punished for that today.”