Republic of Ireland vs. Germany: Date, Time, Live Stream for Euro 2016 Qualifier
Germany's lengthy list of players to choose from for any given international squad is unrivalled in European football, especially given a significant number of those players recently lifted the FIFA World Cup.
The Republic of Ireland are their next opponents, and as they prepare to qualify for the next major tournament, the 2016 European Championship in France, Germany will look to continue the reshuffling and rearrangements of the side to build another XI capable of going the distance—no more are the likes of Philipp Lahm and Per Mertesacker involved.
For manager Jogi Low, it's a mix of a task: find the most dominant midfielders, the most potent attackers and the most suitable defenders of the massed ranks of talented youngsters available to him and merge them with the established elegance and authority of the likes of Bastian Schweinsteiger, Manuel Neuer and Toni Kroos.
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In terms of which talents to pick, game time at club level is obviously a factor for the boss, per the Irish Independent:
"These players are getting regular games and challenges for their clubs on a domestic and European level and they are all in a good rhythm. That's a good scenario for our decisive group games. Our aim is to beat both Ireland and Georgia to qualify for France as group winners. I have the utmost faith in the players, who fulfilled their duties excellently in September.
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The outfield players chosen this time are the same as the last squad—which means no place for a number of individuals still hoping to break into the squad before the finals.
For the neutral or the outsider, the sheer volume of offensive talent available to Germany is as exciting as Low believes the match itself will be, highlighting the "amazing atmosphere" the teams are likely to face in Dublin. Even with that background, he wants calm heads to ensure the job gets finished.
"We're going to have to keep our cool and also be patient if we want to survive there, but if we call up our potential and focus on our qualities, then we will create chances," he said.
Still without a typically lethal and classic No. 9, creating and then finishing off chances hasn't been too much of an issue for Germany, who have scored 22 goals in eight qualifiers, including seven against Gibraltar. Thomas Muller's eight goals in qualifying is the second-highest tally, but the goals continue to be spread around.
Few will doubt Germany will be one of the favourites once Euro 2016 gets underway—but first they have to qualify.
Not for the first time, Ireland stand in their way of progress, and Low will remember a last-minute equaliser in the reverse fixture, a 0-0 in Dublin in Euro 2008 qualifying and a 1-1 draw at the 2002 World Cup (with another injury-time goal there) as reasons to believe the Irish will make things very difficult for Germany before they can start to worry about France next summer.
Date: Thursday, October 8
Time: 7:45 p.m. BST (2:45 p.m. ET)
Venue: Aviva Stadium, Dublin
TV Info: Sky Sports 1 (UK), ESPN3 (U.S.)
Live Stream: Sky Go (UK), WATCH ESPN (U.S.)
The Teams
Ireland's qualification hopes are very much alive, but they might need something from one of their last two games to see off Scotland and take third place, the play-off spot.
Ironically, Ireland's only defeat of the group so far came against direct rivals Scotland, with four wins and three draws giving them plenty of hope they can reach another major tournament this time around.
It's not unfeasible that Ireland can snatch an automatic spot, either. Even if they lose to Germany, Scotland must beat Poland to keep their own qualification hopes alive—and then it would be a straight fight for second or third between Poland and Ireland on Sunday, winner taking automatic spot and loser taking third unless Scotland also beat Gibraltar. In that case, Ireland have to beat Poland to stay ahead of the Scots.
As for Germany, they started the qualification campaign slowly, taking just one narrow win over Scotland from their first three games, but the 2014 World Cup winners were soon into their stride and have won five in a row since. It hasn't always been convincing from Jogi Low and his side, but the manager has had to contend with reshaping the team following a number of retirements after the triumph in Brazil.
Germany remain a huge force and have so many players to choose from that it's tough to see them being anything other than one of the contenders for Euro 2016 as well.
Team News
Ireland had worries over Robbie Keane's availability before the meet-up as his wife was giving birth to their second son, but the forward has turned up and is ready to play—but not before he and assistant manager Roy Keane traded a few jokes about the situation.
"Roy Keane cracking a gag about Robbie Keane breastfeeding... He's still as hard as nails though https://t.co/n4KE27plK0
— Copa90 (@Copa90) October 6, 2015"
"Robbie Keane responds to Roys comments by saying he 'has bigger tits than me' 😳😳brave guy😂😂 pic.twitter.com/ULUpQuV04u
— Mitch Clarke (@mitch5clarke) October 7, 2015"
There is not such good news in defence, however, with Everton right-back Seamus Coleman ruled out by manager Martin O'Neill, per the42.ie. A hamstring injury has seen Coleman, one of Ireland's few remaining top-flight talents, miss the last handful of Premier League matches, and he has not recovered in time to feature against Germany.
Wes Hoolahan and Darron Gibson are both fit after knocks, but James McClean and Glenn Whelan are both suspended after picking up multiple bookings.
Germany can choose from an almost fully fit squad, though, and as ever they have had to overlook a number of considerable talents; Julian Draxler, Benedikt Howedes, Sami Khedira and Antonio Rudiger are just some of the names to miss out on this latest selection.
"Lukas Podolski has left the Germany squad as his ankle injury has ruled him out of both qualifiers.
— DW Sports (@dw_sports) October 6, 2015"
"Germany squad is so free-form they don't even bother distinguishing midfield and attack. pic.twitter.com/ZqoqzKQtLJ
— The Twelfth Man (@_The12thMan) October 6, 2015"
With a single win out of the remaining two games enough to guarantee qualification, there's a good chance some of the less experienced players in the squad might feature at some point; goalkeeper Bernd Leno is the only uncapped player in the 23, but eight other members only have single-figure caps to their names, including five of the seven named defenders.
Possible Starting Lineups
Ireland (4-4-2): Shay Given; Cyrus Christie, John O'Shea, Marc Wilson, Robbie Brady; Aiden McGeady, James McCarthy, Jeff Hendrick, Wes Hoolahan; Robbie Keane, Jon Walters.
Germany (4-2-3-1): Manuel Neuer; Emre Can, Jerome Boateng, Mats Hummels, Jonas Hector; Toni Kroos, Bastian Schweinsteiger; Thomas Muller, Mesut Ozil, Marco Reus; Mario Gotze.
Players to Watch
Ireland: Robbie Keane
Ireland's record goalscorer and all-round player of national pride, Keane is still in good scoring form at club level in MLS with LA Galaxy, and he has long since been noted as prolific on the international scene.
He has scored five of Ireland's 17 goals in qualifying and helps link the midfield to attack extremely well—even though a counter-attacking game doesn't suit him enormously at this stage, he can still be counted on to make the difference if a chance falls his way.
Germany: Thomas Muller
Bayern Munich man Thomas Muller is the remainder in the equation, the inexplicable phenomenon and the catalyst for victory in improbable ways. A genuine great of the modern game, Muller's on-field understanding and ability to take advantage of any situation is matched only by his must-win mentality and reliability to come up big when it matters.
He's in stunning form for his club and will be one of the biggest reasons, if not the outright biggest, for Germany believing they can go on and win the European Championship.
Prediction: Ireland 1-3 Germany
