England were unable to mark the 50th anniversary of their only World Cup win with a victory on Monday after the Three Lions were thrashed 7-2 by a Germany legends side at Upton Park.
England, who were captained by former West Ham and Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand, hosted a Germany team led by ex-Chelsea star Michael Ballack at the Boleyn Ground in a game held to celebrate the Three Lions' World Cup win over West Germany in 1966.
Unfortunately for England, the match - which also aimed to bid farewell to West Ham's ground ahead of the club's move to the Olympic Stadium - didn't quite go as planned.
Jens Lehmann made a superb save to deny Darren Anderton early on and, after a tight 20 minutes, it was Germany who took the lead through Hanno Balitsch.
The 35-year-old opened the scoring after he converted Marco Reich's low cross before the visitors struck again in the 30th minute.
This time it was former Hertha Berlin defender Marko Rehmer who netted to make it 2-0 but Germany weren't done there, adding a third just before half-time through Balitsch, who made England pay for Dean Ashton's miss minutes earlier.
With 15,707 people including former heavyweight boxing world champion David Haye watching on in a rain-soaked Boleyn Ground, Germany started the second period in the same dominant way they had ended the first half, with ex-Borussia Dortmund winger David Odonkor nodding past David James to make it 4-0.
Oliver Neuville and Reich added to the scoreline soon after - prompting England manager and West Ham fan Ray Winstone to bring on some of his star-studded substitutes and switch James for Peter Beardsley in goal.
The move seemingly worked and when Jack Whitehall crossed for Ben Cohen in the 77th minute, the 2003 Rugby World Cup winner drove in from close range to score a consolation goal for England.
Cohen then bagged his brace with three minutes to play, but Germany scored another late on to end the game 7-2.
