England vs. Germany matches, even friendlies, are always considered highly important sporting events (though the tradition and, usually, the quality of both the teams may account for most of that), going so far that a popular radioplay series mocks people in love as “looking deep into each other’s eyes even if a England vs. Germany match is on TV”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England%E2%80%93Germany_football_rivalry

