Owen hat-trick as England romp to historic win

Michael Owen bagged a hat-trick as England came from behind for an historic 5-1 victory over Germany at the Olympic Stadium on Saturday.

The shock scoreline turned qualifying for next year's World Cup finals from Group Nine on its head as England took control.

England, whose last victory on German soil dates back to 1965, made a shaky start and went behind to a sixth minute strike by Carsten Jancker.

Germany had only once lost a World Cup qualifier at home -- 16 years ago to Portugal after the Germans had already booked their place at the 1986 finals in Mexico -- and Rudi Voeller's side soon looked set to take the direct route to the 2002 finals.

But Owen's 14th minute equaliser put England back in the match and Steven Gerrard's superb 22-metre drive in first-half injury time dealt them a stunning blow.

Owen struck again three minutes after the re-start, then again in the 66th, while Emile Heskey completed the rout in the 74th minute as England's counter-attacks tore the German defence to shreds.

It was Germany's worst home defeat in 70 years, since a 6-0 defeat by Austria, while British bookmakers had been offering odds of 100-1 for the final scoreline of 5-1.

All three scorers for England had played in Liverpool's 3-2 Super Cup victory last week over Bayern Munich, in whose Olympic Stadium Saturday's qualifier was played, with Owen and Heskey also on the scoresheet in Monaco.

The remarkable feat means that England now trail Germany by only three points, 16 to 13, and have a game in hand next Wednesday against Albania at home in Newcastle.

Germany take on Finland in their final game, while England are at home to Greece in the battle for the automatic qualification slot, with the English now heavily favoured because of a better goal difference than the Germans.

DREAM START

Despite the nightmare ending, Germany made a dream start, testing England's defence before taking a sixth minute lead when Michael Ballack found Oliver Neuville and the German striker chipped the ball through England's defence.

Defender Sol Campbell and keeper David Seaman both hesitated for the split-second that allowed Jancker to steer his shot home.

Owen levelled six minutes later after Germany failed to clear properly following a David Beckham free kick on the left side of the box.

As the ball came back into area, it was headed across the face of the goal for an unmarked Owen to swivel round and crash a waist-high half-volley past Germany captain and goalkeeper Oliver Kahn.

England were suddenly back in the game and the 21-year-old Owen nearly set up a bizarre second for England when he pressurised Kahn into a schoolboy error -- picking up Sebastian Deisler's back-pass deep inside his own area.

BECKHAM SET UP

Germany players stood across the goal line while Paul Scholes teed up Beckham for the indirect free kick from 15 metres, only for his Manchester United team mate's shot to cannon off the Germany wall.

Joerg Boehme suffered the same fate with a 36th minute free kick that was charged down by the England wall, but the German followed up with a barrelling 25-metre drive which Seaman struggled to hold.

Germany kept up the pressure in the closing minutes of the half with a series of corners, while Seaman did well to get down to a wicked low drive.

But just as injury time came to an end, Gerrard smacked home a superb 22-metre drive from a Rio Ferdinand header to give England a lead at the break.

ENGLAND'S THIRD

The re-start was only three minutes old when Owen crashed home his second, giving England the kind of lead they would never have dreamt of before Saturday night.

Beckham won back possession on the right hand side and curled a high ball into the box, which Heskey headed into the path of Owen, who buried his shot between Kahn and the near post.

Germany hit back and should have pulled one back first through Deisler and then on the hour when Jancker chose to head back -- instead of for goal -- from point-blank range and Ballack cannoned his shot over the top.

Rudi Voeller's side paid a high price for the miss as Owen completed his hat-trick, springing the off-side trap to race on to a through ball and smack a stinging shot past the helpless Kahn.

Heskey completed the demolition job in the 74th minute, like Owen catching the Germans on the break as the hosts pushed forward.

Scholes took the ball unchallenged though open space before placing a perfect pass into the path of the Liverpool striker, who made no mistake with his shot from close range.

Germany refused to give up, but their attempts became half-hearted and a Jancker shot was all they had to show before England completed a victory that is set to go down in footballing history.

Ironically, it was the same result as the first ever match between the two nations, back in April 1908 in Berlin.

England look set to qualify directly for the World Cup finals leaving Germany to contest the playoffs, most likely against Belarus, or Ukraine.

If Germany beat Finland on October 6 and England beat Greece and Albania in their last two games the group will be decided on goal difference as both teams will finish with 19 points.

But following this game England have a better goal difference 12-4 compared with Germany's (14-10).