Gerrard celebrates his crucial goal

It looked bleak for the visitors when Germany took the lead, Rio Ferdinand and Sol Campbell allowing Carsten Jancker to steer home Oliver Neuville's header.

But if England's defenders looked nervous together, then Thomas Linke and Jens Nowotny seemed nothing short of petrified.

German goalkeeper Oliver Kahn looked more flappable than anyone else on a night riddled with errors across the pitch.

After all the pre-match German criticism of Seaman and the claims heralding Kahn as the world's number one, the home side's keeper was left with egg on his face.

Only 12 minutes were on the clock when Kahn was caught horribly out of position from a teasing Beckham cross.

The German keeper flapped at thin air as Nick Barmby cleverly cushioned a header into the path of Owen, who coolly slotted into an unguarded net.

Jancker out-jumps Ferdinand in the early stages

At the other end, though, Seaman was silencing his critics with a brilliant one-handed save to turn away Joerg Boehme's low shot and keep it at 1-1.

The home side were guilty of a glaring miss when Sebastian Deisler fluffed his shot when completely unmarked - and that proved to be just the second warning that Eriksson's side needed.

England punished the astonishing miss deep into first-half injury time when Ferdinand headed down a Beckham cross for Steven Gerrard to unleash an unstoppable 25-yard drive beyond Kahn's despairing grasp.

The half-time boost lifted England's spirits, but few would have predicted the astonishing second-half blitz which was to follow.

Owen gave England a vital two-goal cushion when he neatly tucked a shot inside Kahn's near post after Heskey had superbly headed down another Beckham cross.

Owen was in deadly form and he did not have to wait long for his hat-trick.

Gerrard sent him scampering clear with a superb through ball and the hungry striker ignored Heskey's call to blaze home a sensational shot into the top left-hand corner.

On a night when some of England's finest triumphs were remembered, the timing of Owen's hat-trick clinching goal - 66 - was pleasantly significant.

Heskey's moment did arrive, though, as the big striker put the seal on England's win 17 minutes from time.

Paul Scholes squared the ball into an empty German penalty area and Heskey held off Rehme's challenge to slot home and complete Liverpool's three-man contribution to the scoring.

The floodgates had long since been opened, but now the exit doors were thrown open too as German fans headed for home in their thousands.

The England supporters stayed right where they were, pinching themselves and wondering whether it was all a dream.