Points mean prizes as England meet Germany

Their place in the semi-finals assured, England take on Germany in their closing Group B fixture needing a point to win the section while Horst Hrubecsh's side can guarantee their presence in the last four by avoiding defeat in Halmstad.

• England beat Spain 2-0 on Thursday to move on to six points following their 2-1 defeat of Finland. Having been held 0-0 by the Iberians in their opener, Germany's 2-0 success against Finland means they would advance with a defeat at Örjans vall providing Spain fail to beat the Finns and overturn a four-goal differential.

• Should Germany and Spain finish level on points, goal difference and goals scored, then coefficient ranking will come into play. Based on points obtained divided by the number of matches played in qualifying for the 2007 and 2009 finals (group stage only), Spain's coefficient is superior, 3.400 to Germany's 2.700.

• England have enjoyed the better of the countries' competitive meetings down the years, notably with victories over the Germans in the 1982 UEFA European Championship final and also in the qualifying play-off for the 2007 finals in the Netherlands.

• England have four wins and just one defeat from the previous eight encounters.

• The full breakdown of past results is:
2007 Qualifying play-off
06.10.06 England 1-0 Germany, Coventry
10.10.06 Germany 0-2 England, Leverkusen

2006 Qualifying Group 6
25.03.05 England 2-2 Germany, Hull
06.09.05 Germany 1-1 England, Mainz

2002 Qualifying Group 9
06.10.00 England 1-1 Germany, Derby
31.08.01 Germany 1-2 England, Freiburg

1982 Final
21.09.82 England 3-1 Germany, Sheffield
12.10.82 Germany 3-2 England, Bremen

• England's only competitive defeat by Germany came in the second leg of the 1982 U21 final, although they still lifted the trophy for the first time thanks to a 3-1 victory at Bramall Lane three weeks earlier.

• Pierre Littbarski scored a hat-trick as he led West Germany's recovery in the second leg in Bremen but a 3-2 win was not enough to deny England the trophy.

• Gary Owen (2) and Justin Fashanu were England's scorers when they raced into a 3-0 lead in the first leg in Sheffield, before Rudi Völler's late strike gave the visitors hope.

• Mike Duxbury extended England's aggregate advantage with an early goal in the return, and though Littbarski hit back ten minutes later, Paul Goddard's strike 13 minutes from time looked to have put the tie beyond doubt. Littbarski scored twice more (80, 84) to set up a thrilling climax, but it was not enough.

• Theo Walcott came off the bench to score two unanswered goals in Leverkusen when England won the play-off to advance to the 2007 finals at the expense of their great rivals 3-0 on aggregate.

• Leading 1-0 thanks to Leighton Baines' first-leg strike, England had goalkeeper Scott Carson to thank for keeping out Gonzalo Castro's 22nd-minute penalty before Walcott secured their progress with his two goals in the final five minutes.

• Both teams finished with ten men following the dismissals of Markus Brzenska and Steven Taylor.

• The lineups for that second-leg contest were:
Germany: Michael Rensing, Dominik Reinhardt, Patrick Ochs (Sebastian Freis 83), Markus Brzenska, Jan Roberto Hilbert (Sascha Dum 69), Gonzalo Castro, Kevin-Prince Boateng, Eugen Polanski, Stefan Kiessling, Aaron Hunt, Mario Gómez.
England: Scott Carson, Micah Richards, Leighton Baines, Steven Taylor, Anton Ferdinand, Tom Huddlestone, Nigel Reo-Coker, James Milner, Gabriel Agbonlahor (Theo Walcott 76), David Nugent (Justin Hoyte 66), Ashley Young (Cameron Jerome 94).

• Gabriel Agbonlahor, James Milner and Micah Richards all featured in both legs of that play-off tie while the only survivor in the Germany squad is Castro. Jerome Boateng's brother Kevin-Prince figured for the Germans too.

• England secured first place at Germany's expense in their qualifying group for the 2002 competition thanks to a win and a draw against their rivals. Daniel Bierofka's late strike cancelled out Titus Bramble's opener to earn Germany a point at Pride Park, but England secured a 2-1 win in Freiburg ten months later. Francis Jeffers snatched the three points in the third minute of added time after Joe Cole and Christoph Metzelder had traded goals.

• The rivalry between Germany and England at senior level is well documented. England hold the advantage in head-to-head meetings with the past 31 matches having produced 15 wins for England, ten for Germany and six draws.

• England manager Stuart Pearce was involved in two of the countries' most famous meetings in modern times.

• Pearce had a penalty saved in his country's FIFA World Cup semi-final shoot-out defeat by West Germany in 1990. Chris Waddle also failed from the spot as the Germans prevailed 4-3 on spot-kicks following a 1-1 draw.

• Pearce endured further heartache against Germany at EURO '96™, as part of the side beaten in another semi-final shootout, once again after a 1-1 draw.

• He was also in the England team that went down 3-1 to West Germany in a September 1987 friendly match. For his club side Nottingham Forest FC, Pearce had no better luck – losing 7-2 on aggregate against FC Bayern München in the 1995/96 UEFA Cup quarter-finals.

• Germany coach Hrubesch has his own unhappy memories of Anglo-German contests having been part of the Hamburger SV side beaten 1-0 by Nottingham Forest in the 1980 European Champion Clubs' Cup final.

• Germany's Dennis Aogo and Boateng were in the Hamburg side that eliminated a Manchester City FC side including Nedum Onuoha and Richards from the UEFA Cup quarter-finals in April.

• Aogo featured in both Hamburg's 3-1 home first-leg success and their 2-1 second-leg loss in Manchester, in which Boateng also played. Richards and Onuoha appeared in both legs for City while England goalkeeper Joe Hart watched both matches from the bench.

Squad news

• "We started poorly, lacking any real movement and inviting them to come at us, which they did," said Horst Hrubesch after the Finland win. "The goal was pivotal and as soon as we scored we were Germany again but it's a shame we couldn't get a third because that could be important – we want to progress as group winners."

• Scorer of Germany's opening goal, Benedikt Höwedes was named man of the match by the UEFA Technical Study Group.

• Hrubesch made one change from the side that had drawn with Spain, Marcel Schmelzer replacing the injured Sebastian Boenisch at left-back. Mesut Özil started after overcoming a back problem.

• Boenisch picked up an ankle injury in the first half against Spain and although fears of a fracture have been allayed, pulled ligaments mean he is likely to miss the England game.

• Gonzalo Castro (right thigh) and Jerome Boateng (back) were only involved in light training on Saturday after picking up minor injuries against Finland.

• Germany have seven players within a yellow card of a suspension. Ashkan Dejagah, Andreas Beck and Sami Khedira were booked against Spain while Marko Marin, Özil, Patrick Ebert and Schmelzer all picked up yellow cards in the Finland win.

• Pearce made two changes to the side which started against Finland for the 2-0 defeat of Spain. Nedum Onuoha shook of a groin injury to take the place of Michael Mancienne as the Chelsea FC defender served a one-match suspension following his first-half dismissal against the Finns.

• Onuoha partnered his Manchester City FC club-mate Micah Richards in central defence. Richards, who sustained a minor thigh strain after scoring the winner against Finland, was voted man of the match.

• Adam Johnson was the beneficiary of the other change, making his tournament debut on the left side of the attack with Theo Walcott dropping to the bench and Milner starting on the right.

• Walcott, previously taken off at half-time against Finland, replaced Johnson after 62 minutes and set up the second goal for Milner after a superb burst down the right flank. Another substitute, Fraizer Campbell, had opened the scoring six minutes earlier (67).

• Milner saw a 32nd-minute penalty saved brilliantly by Spain goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo. The Aston Villa FC player was shown his second yellow card of the group stage in the 82nd minute and is therefore suspended against Germany.

• Joe Hart, Richards and Gabriel Agbonlahor are all within one booking of a suspension.

• Agbonlahor was taken off in the 39th minute against Spain because of a shin injury.

• Pearce said: "The players have a strong determination among themselves to want to be successful this summer. We kept doing what we're good at all game and we were stronger in the second half – I thought beforehand that would be the case and credit to the players for that."