Cahill hopes history repeats in Berlin

England's stand-in captain Gary Cahill is hoping history will repeat itself in Berlin when the Chelsea centre-back leads out the team to face Germany on Saturday.
The 30-year-old will wear the captain's armband against the world champions at the Olympic Stadium with Wayne Rooney absent with a knee injury.

The last encounter between the two sides in Berlin saw England claim a 2-1 win in 2008.

It was another Chelsea centre-back, John Terry, who captained England and headed the winning goal in Berlin, something Cahill would love to emulate nearly eight years later.

"It would be nice if that was the case again tomorrow," he said on Friday in Germany's capital.

"It's a dream come true to play for England, but to captain your country is something extra and obviously it would be even sweeter to get a result."

This will be just the second time Cahill has worn the England captain's armband from the outset after October's Euro 2016 qualifier at home to Estonia.

Saturday's game will see Tottenham left-back Danny Rose make his full international debut while Stoke's Jack Butland starts in goal instead of the injured Joe Hart.
Eric Dier, Dele Alli and Harry Kane make-up a four-man Tottenham contingent.

Dier will be playing his third international while Alli has four caps already.

Kane will be looking for a fourth England goal in his ninth game although Arsenal's Danny Welbeck, with 14 goals in 33 outings, will be the spearhead of the attack in the absence of Rooney.

England manager Roy Hodgson wants to use the friendlies against Germany and the Netherlands, next Tuesday at Wembley, to give the majority of his 22-man squad a chance.

But Cahill says while England want another win to throw down a marker for Euro 2016, the result will have no bearing on the finals in France.

"There are no friendly games when you pull on the English shirt, you want to go out and get victories," he said.

"We're moving in the right direction.

"These are two great tests for us and we know we are going to be judged against opposition like that.

"If we win the game here convincingly, it won't mean we'll win the Euro, likewise if we lose it won't mean we'll do badly."

And Hodgson compared the talented group at his disposal to where Joachim Loew's Germany squad were 10 years ago.

"If you look at the number of caps in our team compared to the Germany team, we will be way down," said Hodgson.

"But we are where Germany were after the 2006 World Cup when they had a good group of young players.

"And you can't get much further in the journey than winning the World Cup."

England team to face Germany:

Jack Butland, Nathaniel Clyne, Gary Cahill, Chris Smalling, Danny Rose, Jordan Henderson, Eric Dier, Dele Alli, Adam Lallana, Harry Kane, Danny Welbeck
Source: AFP