England U21s went down 2-0 to Germany following goalkeeping errors from Scott Loach and Jason Steele.
Goalkeeping errors gifts Germany U21s 2-0 victory
England U21s went down 2-0 to their German counterparts on Tuesday following goalkeeping errors from Scott Loach and Jason Steele.
England had been looking to build towards next summer's European Championship after booking their place courtesy of a play-off victory over Romania last month.
But Stuart Pearce's options had been limited by injuries and senior call-ups and the new-look team was well beaten in Tuesday's friendly in Wiesbaden.
Trailing 1-0 after Loach failed to keep out Konstantin Rausch's shot, the visitors saw their 15-game, five-year unbeaten away record go up in smoke when half-time substitute Steele was sent off after conceding a penalty just 13 minutes into his debut.
Cenk Tosun converted from the spot, with England failing to avenge last year's U21 Championship final defeat.
Germany, who had seen all the players from last year's final since move on, made the brighter start, Peniel Mlapa twice seeing efforts blocked in the same attack.
Some last-ditch defending thwarted Sebastian Rudy and Tosun from close range in the space of a minute midway through the first half.
Then, from nowhere, a brilliant one-touch England move saw Jack Rodwell play in debutant Scott Sinclair but the in-form Swansea striker was well offside.
Stefan Bell completely fluffed his lines in the 31st minute, the defender sending a free header wide from Rausch's free-kick after Ryan Bertrand was booked for a late tackle on Boris Vukcevic.
Buckling
Mlapa was getting the better of debutant Kieran Trippier, forcing a smart stop from Loach from 20 yards, while Ikay Gundogan saw a shot deflected over after England went to sleep at a corner.
The visitors were buckling but it was poor goalkeeping which saw them broken, with another Germany corner cleared to Rausch.
The full-back's shot came through a crowd of players but Loach - the only survivor on either side from last summer's U21 Championship final - got both hands to it and should have kept it out.
It could easily have been 2-0 soon after when the unmarked Bell and Tosun got in each other's way from point-blank range after being left unmarked at another free-kick.
Germany made a half-time triple-substitution, bringing on Patrick Funk, Daniel Ginczek and Marc Hornschuh, while England withdrew Loach for Steele.
And the new man was called into action after less than four minutes, with Tosun played clean through only to see the Middlesbrough keeper parry athletically.
Game over
England finally created a clear-cut chance six minutes later, Jack Cork and Rodwell combining to release Nathan Delfouneso, whose shot clearly came off the chest of Olivier Baumann, although a corner was awarded.
But just two minutes after that, it was effectively game over when Steele was sent off after conceding a penalty.
Maximilian Beister had just come on for Mlapa and England were cut apart as Vukcevic got in behind and tried to go round the keeper.
Steele threw himself at the feet of the striker, who went to ground.
Steele protested he had touched the ball but Christof Virant showed him red and Tosun stepped up to beat Henri Lansbury, who was now forced to play in goal.
Ginczek missed a good chance for 3-0 and Jan Tilman Kirchhoff forced a good reaction save from Lansbury.
Both sides made further substitutions - including a host of debutants for England - and the 10 men actually began to make some inroads.
But Danny Rose was booked for dissent late on and Germany always looked more likely to score a third.
