Thursday July 17, 2008; International Friendly

Germany Ladies 3 England Ladies 0

England: R.Brown, A.Scott (L.Johnson 61), C.Stoney, F.Williams, F.White, A.Asante, K.Carney (S.Smith 77), J.Scott, L.Sanderson (E.Westwood 61), K.Smith, R.Yankey.

This was one of England's more predictable defeats. With Germany in full preparation for the forthcoming Olympic tournament and fielding a side easily recognisable as the reigning world champions England broke off their summer holidays to provide suitable lambs to the slaughter.

It is impossible to compete with Germany at anything other than 100% and this game can be written off as something of a training exercise for England ahead of the serious business of European Championship qualification this autumn.

All games have their meaning, however, and the fact that England's common failings at both ends of the field were again evident should not be overlooked. Rachel Brown, returning in goal after a long injury lay off, was horribly at fault for the first German goal while the three pronged "attack" once again failed to make any real impression on a top class international defence.

Not that Hope Powell saw any reason to try a different formation even in this friendly, perhaps the most meaningless she will ever be faced with.

The game started at a pace suitable for a summer friendly which suited England as they passed the ball about quite nicely without hinting at much penetration. Karen Carney was denied a possible run on goal by alert defending but England's only substantial threat, yet again, came from the strong running of Kelly Smith.

No matter how good you are, however, it is not easy to run straight through a world class defence on your own.

Perhaps aroused by England's near breakthrough the Germans, with far more at stake, raised the pace and there was only one winner from that point on. It did not take Germany long to take the lead but this was a self inflicted wound from an England point of view.

A long ball over the top found the England defence stationary, presumably waiting for an offside flag, but the situation seemed under control as Brown dashed outside her area to clear. The embarrassing air shot that followed left Sandra Smisek with an open goal and was a desperate way for the Everton keeper to mark her return to international action.

The memory of Brown's hopeless error of judgement against America in the World Cup remains fairly fresh in the mind and she will have to start from scratch in the forthcoming campaign to restore faith in her abilities.

It was mainly England on the back foot and defending diligently from this point on, with Anita Asante impressing, while Smith forced her way through for two efforts on goal at the other end. One shot flashed wide and another, after a typical burst, brought a low save out of Nadine Angerer.

With half time approaching it was Germany who came closest to another goal, however, as Birgit Prinz finally managed to shrug off Asante before drilling a shot just wide.

Half Time: Germany 1 England 0

The second half was even more comfortable for the Germans as England struggled to make any headway going forward.

Annike Krahn missed one clear chance as the Germans looked to put the issue beyond doubt but ten minutes after the restart Prinz extended the lead with a trademark header from Simone Laudehr's centre and the game began to drift towards its inevitable conclusion.

Both sides indulged in a few substitutions with England trying nothing unusual or inventive. There was a straight swap at right back with Lindsay Johnson replacing Alex Scott, Sue Smith came on to show yet again that if Karen Carney can't do it then neither can she while Emily Westwood came on for Lianne Sanderson, causing a reshuffle which saw Kelly Smith move up front, Asante go into midfield with Westwood taking over at centre half.

Amid the changes Germany scored one more goal when Faye White gifted possession to Prinz and then conceded a penalty by pulling her back inside the box. This was a minor infringement which Prinz, in the best German tradition, made a six course meal of but the incident in general was one England's captain would want to forget.

Melanie Behringer smacked home the penalty.

All that remained was a quarter hour of going through the motions before the Germans indulged themselves with a scarcely merited lap of honour in which they were joined by a Teutonic relative of Preston North End's Deepdale Duck.

Another England international therefore has come and gone with nothing new to learn about our players, no sign of a Plan B and absolutely no idea where the next goal is coming from against top class opposition.

Oh yes, and the supporters of a summer league in womens' football might want to reflect that the England team could be going into competitive internationals in a similar state of preparation should that become a reality.

Full Time: Germany Ladies 3 England Ladies 0

England: R.Brown 3, A.Scott 5 (L.Johnson 5), C.Stoney 5, F.Williams 5, F.White 4, A.Asante 6, K.Carney 5 (S.Smith 4), J.Scott 4, L.Sanderson 4 (E.Westwood 5), K.Smith 6, R.Yankey 4.