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England v Germany not even close in the song stakes
Twenty-years ago I was a 13-year-old crying in my living room because Germany had knocked out England on penalties in the semi-final of the Italy 1990 World Cup.
Prior to the game a commentator had bragged, “England have certainly won in the song stakes”. He was right. England had won in the song stakes and after the penalties this other victory gave me something to cling to.
New Order’s World in Motion had a great synthesiser tune, drum machine beats, a tempo you could dance to wildly at a teenage disco party and even a rap by John Barnes. I memorised it like everyone else in my class. (Relive it here).
Compare it to the song by 1990 World Cup winners Germany, and you can savour England’s victory all over again. The team had drafted in German popstar Udo Juergens to help, but famed for hits like “Aber bitte mit Sahne” (But with cream please) there was little he could do.
