England 1 Germany 2: Richards offers ray of light on night of horrors for McClaren

At least Wembley is starting to feel like home for England. Two games in and the place has already been consecrated with one of the national team's oldest traditions: a debilitating defeat to the old enemy Germany. It has become a peculiar feature of Steve McClaren's reign that even the friendly defeats have started to feel crushing.

The England manager's ignominious recent record is two wins in the last nine games, his goalkeeper Paul Robinson is in some kind of crisis and England have still not won a match at Wembley. "Let's see if anyone can beat us here," was Michael Owen's bold "Wembley challenge" emblazoned across the cover of the programme. The Germans have a word for that: they call it schadenfreude.

Even on the nights that are not supposed to matter, England fail to inspire. There were glimmers of hope in Micah Richards' contribution, and that of Joe Cole and Shaun Wright-Phillips, but nothing to convince that this is a side capable of storming through their last five Euro 2008 qualifiers. This was Germany's B team and they looked good – a lot better than Estonia or Andorra, who are the only sides England have beaten for the last 10 months.

First of all for McClaren, however, is what he does with a problem like Robinson. It is the fatalistic view of the Tottenham man himself that the disasters that have befallen him for England of late are simply the kind that affect every goalkeeper at times. After the Gary Neville backpass that skipped over his foot in Zagreb and now the cross he flapped at last night that led to Kevin Kuranyi's equaliser, it seems like time the Spurs goalkeeper stops considering himself England's unluckiest footballer.

It was prearranged that Robinson would be replaced by David James in the second half, but it felt apt that he was removed from the scene of the crime. Minutes after he had conceded Kuranyi's equaliser to Frank Lampard's opening goal, Robinson came for a cross, missed and a shudder went through Wembley. He is just short of his third anniversary as England's No 1, but there is no guarantee that he will still be in place against Israel on 8 September.

There are always, in McClaren's stoically sunny world, "positives" to be taken from nights like these, but increasingly you have to look harder to find them. Richards looked accomplished at right-back and set up Lampard's goal but he was less sure at centre-half in the second half. It was not enough to send the England support skipping on their way.

At times, the drifting rain and impending sense of doom were reminiscent of 7 October 2000 when English football passed the old Wembley into history with a defeat to Germany that was as hollow and empty as it was appropriate. This was another party hijacked by the Germany team, for whom crisp passing, confidence and the capacity to control a game seem to be passed down in the genes.

McClaren lost Ashley Cole before the game with a bruised shoulder and it will be difficult for him if he has to pick Nicky Shorey at left-back next month. More pressing will be his attacking line, with a pair of strikers woefully out of sorts in Owen, who had played only 27 minutes of football all season, and Alan Smith, now regarded as a midfielder for his club. Not exactly the dream ticket – and probably not even a first-choice pairing for their club, Newcastle.

For the first 10 minutes England looked as if this generation of players might not be in thrall to the legend of German football and then, slowly, they fell under its spell. At first England passed the ball well, Cole looked like the game's most dangerous player on the left and, on the opposite flank, Richards picked up exactly where he left off against Manchester United at the weekend, a marauding presence on the right wing.

At times you could only wish that David Beckham would step out the way and let the 19-year-old attack down the flank on his own. Certainly, the goal England scored on nine minutes owed everything to the power of Richards, who forced his way past Christian Pander at left-back, drew a challenge from Bernd Schneider and flicked the ball to Frank Lampard, whose shot beat Jens Lehmann at his near post. It may have taken a flick off Christoph Metzelder's boot, but the point was that it was a goal made by the conviction of a young Englishman in the form of his young life. It was Lampard's first international goal in more than a year, although it is probably too hopeful to think that the boos that still echo in the background when the Chelsea midfielder's name is read out will stop.

In the minutes that followed England's goal, Germany settled and their equaliser on 26 minutes was a horror for the England goalkeeper. When Schneider's cross came over from the right, Robinson's positioning was all wrong and he found himself stepping back to get the ball out from under the crossbar. He flapped at it and Kuranyi, following in, swept the ball home from close range.

Later Robinson came out to meet a free-kick from the right from Piotr Trochowski and made a dreadful mess of it, allowing Metzelder to get in ahead of him. His only consolation was that Germany's second goal was nothing to do with him. No goalkeeper would have stopped Christian Pander's fabulous strike from 30 yards.

Two chances fell Owen's way as the half drew to a close and he will regret the second the most. Lehmann spilt Smith's flick but Owen could not squeeze the ball in from an angle that was tight but not impossible.

In the second half, the introduction of Peter Crouch, Kieron Dyer and Wright-Phillips momentarily sharpened England. Gareth Barry had a header flicked off the line by Phillip Lahm. The final outcome, however, was depressingly familiar.

England (4-4-2): Robinson (Tottenham); Richards (Manchester City), Terry (Chelsea), Ferdinand (Manchester United), Shorey (Reading); Beckham (LA Galaxy), Lampard (Chelsea), Carrick (Manchester United), J Cole (Chelsea); Smith (Newcastle), Owen (Newcastle). Substitutes used: James (Portsmouth) for Robinson, h-t; Brown (Manchester United) for Ferdinand, h-t; Barry (Aston Villa) for Carrick, 54; Crouch (Liverpool) for Smith, 57; Dyer (West Ham) for Owen, 57; Wright-Phillips (Chelsea) for J Cole, 70.

Germany (4-1-3-2): Lehmann (Arsenal); Friedrich (Hertha Berlin), Mertesacker (Werder Bremen), Metzelder (Real Madrid), Pander (Schalke); Lahm (Bayern Munich); Schneider (Bayer Leverkusen), Trochowski (Hamburg), Hitzlsperger (Stuttgart); Odonkor (Real Betis), Kuranyi (Schalke). Substitutes used: Hilbert (Stuttgart) for Odonkor, 54; Rolfes (Bayer Leverkusen) for Trochowski, 72; Castro (Bayer Leverkusen) for Schneider, 89.

Referee: M Busacca (Switzerland).

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