A word of warning to anyone looking to set up a charity match, if you invite the Germans, they do not mess about.
Rio Ferdinand and his teammates consisting of former internationals such as David James, Teddy Sheringham, Trevor Sinclair and Dean Ashton, as well as a host of celebrities like Jack Whitehall (of course), were on the end of an absolute battering by a team of Germans consisting only of former pros and lead by Michael Ballack.
Clearly the German team did not get the memo that this was a friendly to celebrate the last season of the Boleyn Ground and the 50th anniversary of England's World Cup win, as they turned up with a strong team and proceeded to put goal after goal past the England side, eventually running out 7-2 winners.
Rio Ferdinand was very upset as he gave a touchline interview to the TV crew present, complaining that the organiser would need to be filled in as to how to arrange one of these games considering Germany arrived with only former pros and no "celebs", but that doesn't really add up when you consider that the starting XI, which consisted only of former pros, went 5-0 down.
Here are the teams that started:
And here are the highlights if you want to see the likes of Oliver Neuville running riot:
We're with the Germans on this one. If you want to invite a team over to celebrate beating them 50 years ago, then expect them to come with revenge on their minds.
You could argue that maybe they should have eased up and made it a more fun day out for the 15,000 people who attended the game, but that just wouldn't be Germany.
