Steve McClaren’s England have lost 2-1 to arch-rivals Germany in their international friendly match at Wembley Stadium on Wednesday night.

All the goals came in the first-half, with England and Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard scoring the opening goal of the match, but his strike was cancelled out by German striker Kevin Kuranyi after a blunder by Paul Robinson, with FC Schalke 04 defender Christian Pander smashing home the winner for Germany with an absolutely stunning 25-yard strike.

The game, which started in heavy rain, was slow to come to life, with England shading the majority of possession, with Joe Cole making some good runs at the Germany defence.

Frank Lampard opened the scoring in the 9th minute after Micah Richards, playing in right-back for England, made an incisive run into the Germany penalty area and flicked on to Lampard, who smashed the ball past Jens Lehmann’s inside post and into the back of the net to make it 1-0.

England commanded the field during the opening 20 minutes of the match, with Manchester City defender Micah Richards, who received a slight knock while setting-up the first goal, was playing expertly on the right wing, but as the half progressed, Germany began to come into the game.

Christian Pander – who was making his debut for Germany – and Thomas Hitzlsperger both had their attempted shots go wide of Paul Robinson’s goal as the visitors began to find space on the field.

Just minutes later Germany equalised after Bernd Schneider crossed the ball in towards the England goal, for what should have been an easy catch for the England number 1, but Robinson only managed to flick on to the bar, with the rebound met by Kevin Kuranyi, who was close on hand to tap the ball in to level the scores.

England had two chances to retake the lead just after the half-hour mark, first with Alan Smith coming close from a David Beckham free-kick and then Frank Lampard having his close-range shot saved by Lehmann.

Robinson was given another scare from a Germany free-kick which was met by Mertesacker, but his blushes were saved by the linesman flagging for offside.

The home side started to regain control of the match as the half came to a close, but Germany defended resolutely to deny space for the England attackers and then broke well to hit England with a stunning long-range strike from senior international debutant Christian Pander that left Robinson no chance of saving five minutes before half-time.

Michael Owen, returning to the England squad after a long injury lay-off, had two chances to level before half-time, but failed to capitalise on his opportunities.

The game went into half-time with the score 2-1, but with England no doubt concerned that they couldn't have taken advantage of their possession in the first-half.

David James replaced Paul Robinson in the England goal for the second-half, with Wes Brown replacing Rio Ferdinand in defence and Gareth Barry replacing Michael Carrick, Michael Owen replaced by Peter Crouch and Kieron Dyer coming on for Alan Smith early on in the second-half to try and give the game a boost as the second-half tried to settle.

Both sides had half chances before the hour-mark and the game became far more competitive once again.

Gareth Barry and Kieron Dyer both made their presences felt after coming on, with Dyer coming very close to scoring his first international goal in his 33rd appearance for his country after latching on to a Beckham cross, but his shot went just wide of Lehmann’s post.

Sean Wright-Phillips, who came on for Joe Cole halfway through the second-half, had a couple of shots on target, with John Terry having his attempt cleared off the line, but the visitors were defending well and Kuranyi constantly causing a threat on the break for Germany.

England couldn’t find a way through and Germany held on for yet another victory over one of their biggest rivals, with Germany manager Joachim Löw ecstatic to register the victory with what was a severely depleted team.

England manager Steve McClaren could take some heart from the performances of some of his players - notably Micah Richards, Joe Cole and Frank Lampard - but will have to do some re-thinking if he hopes to have a good chance of qualifying for the EURO 2008 finals, let alone expecting any success in the tournament.

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