TAKE A GLANCE down through Germany’s squad for their visit to Lansdowne Road and the scale of the task facing an Irish team ravaged by injuries on Friday becomes horrifyingly clear.
Jogi Loew’s side, ranked second in the world behind Spain by FIFA, may have been the youngest at the European championships this summer but it certainly isn’t lacking in pedigree.
Anyone who watched Sunday’s El Clasico will have grimaced at the thought of Keith Andrews and Keith Fahey being pitted against Messrs Sami Khedira and Mesut Ozil after they matched Iniesta, Xavi, Busquets and Fabregas for much of the 2-2 draw at the Nou Camp.
Four days earlier, back-to-back domestic champions Borussia Dortmund, who included six Germans in their team (although Matt Hummels and Lars Bender have withdrawn from international duty due to injury), pulled Premier League champions Manchester City apart and would’ve earned a win but for the heroics of Joe Hart.
The remaining players come from Bayern Munich, who narrowly lost out to Chelsea in the Champions League final, a couple of other Bundesliga teams and Arsenal, where Lukas Podolski and Per Mertesacker ply their trade these days.
They are without the prolific Mario Gomez as the striker continues his rehabilitation after having ankle surgery and while veteran Miroslav Klose (who is four goals short of Gerd Muller’s international record) is the only “recognised striker”, they possess a wealth of attacking options and bags of goals from midfield.
So, to say it promises to be something of a mismatch is quite the understatement. But we live in hope.
Below, we have chosen three players who could make a big impact during this World Cup qualifying campaign:
Marco Reus (Borussia Dortmund)
Winger Marco Reus scored 18 goals in 32 league appearances for Borussia Monchengladbach last season and went on to be named German Player of the Year. The 23-year-old then earned himself a €17million move to Borussia Dortmund during the summer as the league champions shelled out some of the money recouped from the sale of Shinji Kagawa to Manchester United. Reus has picked up where he left off this term – notching five times for Die Schwarzgelben and adding one more for his country against Austria last month.
Watch his goal during the win over Greece at Euro 2012:
YouTube credit: PCmait
Mario Gotze (Borussia Dortmund)
Gotze has been with Dortmund since the age of 8 and came up through the ranks before breaking into the first team during the 2009-2010 season. A strong dribbler with superb vision and an abundance of technical ability, he is comfortable on either flank or through the middle. The 20-year-old is expected to be a hugely influential player for Germany over the next decade but has already made a name for himself as one of Europe’s most exciting talents.
Franz Beckenbauer said of Gotze last year:
It is not possible to stop Mario Gotze. He has the same assets as Messi. There is no one playing better than him. He runs through opponents as though they aren’t there. He is an instinctive footballer, just like Messi.”
Gotze’s goal v the Faroe Islands last month:
YouTube credit: MrAntischalker04
Andre Schurrle (Bayer Leverkusen)
The fact that he is unlikely to start against Ireland shows the incredible strength in depth Loew’s team has got. Another player not long into his twenties, the Bayer Leverkusen attacker was a summer target of Chelsea (God knows where they would have fit him in alongside Mata, Oscar and Hazard). Recorded ten goals and four assists in 44 appearances during the 2011/12 campaign but is still learning his trade and should improve on that stat this term.
Below is Schurrle’s strike against Israel from back in May:
YouTube credit: MertOzcan1994
