England v. Germany - FIFA/SOS Ambassador at Wembley
22/08/2007
Forty one years after England’s World Cup victory against Germany, the two teams meet again this evening for their first encounter at the new Wembley stadium. The friendly match comes ahead of the final run of Euro 2008 qualification matches, and will no doubt be full of the passion traditionally associated with England - Germany games despite the large number of absentees due to injury.
One of those missing from tonight’s match is FIFA/SOS Ambassador Wayne Rooney, who is suffering from a fractured foot. Had he been fit, he would have been competing against another FIFA/SOS Ambassador, Philipp Lahm, the Bayern Munich and Germany defender.
Philipp recently joined Rooney and a long and illustrious list of international footballers that have pledged their support to the children’s charity. In June, he paid a visit to various SOS Children projects in South Africa where he joined in with a football match with children at the SOS Children’s Village in Ennerdale, Johannesburg. Speaking about his experience Philipp said, “As a prominent footballer you have plenty of opportunities to draw attention to the fact that many children do not enjoy such a happy childhood as you or I did. I’m here in South Africa to highlight the needs of children here.”
Philipp certainly went down well with the children, whose smiles showed exactly how much they enjoyed meeting the first goal scorer at last year’s World Cup. Philipp himself was pleased to see what great work can be done given the chance, “It’s fantastic to see that these children have everything that they need.”
Relevant Countries: South Africa.