Match report: Germany 1 England 2 | Capello's 24-carat gold reserves | How England rated | Debate: what is England's best XI now? | Agbonlahor merits inclusion in long-term plans | Rise and rise of Captain Responsible | Wenger eyes Walcott compensation | Giles Smith: was it meaningful enough to put I'm a Celebrity on hold for a night? | Debate: were Carson and Bent the only losers in Berlin?

Even a city of Berlin’s splendour and history remains undeniably a work in progress, as evidenced by the number of cranes that clutter the evocative skyline. It is a description that can equally be applied to Fabio Capello’s England, but, a year almost to the day since the nadir of the Steve McClaren era, there could be no more encouraging sight than a patched-up team making light of so many big-name absentees to brush aside the challenge of Germany.

Who could have imagined last November, as they capitulated against Croatia at Wembley while the helpless McClaren sought refuge under an umbrella, that within 12 months England would be top of their World Cup qualifying group, having beaten Croatia 4-1 in Zagreb, and, with a weakened XI, claimed the prized scalp of Germany? It is a remarkable transformation and, were it not for the number of false dawns that England fans have seen over the years, it would be tempting to get carried away.

As poor as Germany were, this is a result to be treasured. At the final whistle, John Terry joined a handful of team-mates in a huddle in the centre circle to mark the occasion. It was the captain who secured the win six minutes from time, a relief for him after a calamitous contribution to Germany’s equaliser 20 minutes earlier. There is a tendency on these occasions to personalise the issue, but this has to go down as a collective triumph. Michael Carrick and Stewart Downing deserve special mentions, as does Gabriel Agbonlahor for the assurance with which he took his first steps on the international stage, but the thing to emphasise here is that England look a team again. In fact, with so many key players missing, they looked more than the sum of their parts, rather than less, as has often been the case.

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Agbonlahor was far more impressive than all four of Capello’s previous first caps

Matt Hughes

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The build-up had been all about the players who were missing — not just David Beckham and Michael Owen, who were left out, but Rio Ferdinand, Ashley Cole, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Wayne Rooney, all ruled out by injury. Perhaps that, and the assertion that the match had become an irrelevance, irritated those who had waited patiently for such an opportunity. Either way, it was a performance that will remind the absentees of the competition for their places. It will be interesting to see how many of them dare to stay at home, nursing aches and strains, when England travel to Spain in February.

Agbonlahor is one who has vaulted his way into contention, having approached his debut with much the same sang-froid and unabashed self-assurance that characterised Wayne Rooney at the start of his international career. He does not have Rooney’s innate football genius, but Agbonlahor’s most obvious raw material, his pace, is augmented by a willingness to run aggressively and directly at opponents. Per Mertesacker and Heiko Westermann, the plodders at the heart of the Germany defence, will not look back with fondness on their first encounter with the forward, who received an almighty pat on the back from Capello when he made way for Ashley Young, his Aston Villa team-mate.

The biggest winner of all was Downing, who set up the goals and showed conviction throughout. The Middlesbrough winger has often looked out of his depth in the choppy waters of international football but here, perhaps more comfortable in the absence of the bigger names, he was assertive in everything he did, not least in testing René Adler with a fierce shot from distance just before half-time.

By that stage, England were leading 1-0, with Matthew Upson the unlikely beneficiary of a clanger from Adler. The goalkeeper, doing a passable impression of Tottenham Hotspur’s Heurelho Gomes, got nowhere near Downing’s corner. The ball struck Agbonlahor and, while others hesitated, Upson pounced. An infrequent goalscorer at club level — seven goals in 260 matches — he will treasure his first in 12 appearances for his country.

England were coasting, with the natives growing restless. When Darren Bent, a half-time substitute, raced clear of the Germany defence in the 62nd minute, all bets were off. Bent did the hard part, taking the ball around Tim Wiese, another half-time replacement, but, with the goal gaping, he shot hopelessly wide. It was a failure of technique, with the chance falling on his weaker left foot, but was there also a loss of nerve as thoughts flashed through his mind of his costly, if largely forgotten, miss in the final minutes of that calamitous defeat by Croatia a year ago?

The Croatia flashbacks continued a minute later, when Carson, sent on at half-time for his first England cap since that fateful night, ended up in a horrible mix with Terry. The goalkeeper looked angry with himself, as Patrick Helmes nipped in to score his first international goal, but the real culprit, as he later admitted, was Terry, who uncharacteristically failed to take responsibility of a bouncing ball. Capello characterised it thus: “You should,” “I should,” “You should.” But it was Terry who should have taken control of the situation.

England and their captain, though, were not to be denied. After Shaun Wright-Phillips flickered into life and shot against a post from fully 25 yards, Downing floated in a free kick from which Terry looped a header past Wiese and into the net. Germany 1, England Reserves 2. Who would have thought it on Monday, let alone a year ago?