The time has come for the World Champions. In the coming week, Die Mannschaft will take on group leaders Poland in Frankfurt on Friday (20:45 CEST) and third placed Scotland on the following Monday in Glasgow (20:45 CEST) to kick start an autumn in which Joachim Löw’s side will look to secure their qualification for the 2016 European Championship in France.
Die Mannschaft currently sit in second place in Group D with 13 points, just one point behind their next opposition: Poland. But even the Scots with eleven points, and Ireland with nine, are within touching distance of Germany. DFB.de has all the facts and figures ahead of the game against our eastern neighbours.
Record I: The EURO qualifier in Frankfurt-am-Main against Poland is the 903rd Germany international match. Since their first ever game on 5th April 1908, the team has enjoyed 524 victories, drawn 183 games and lost 195. The goal difference over the entire 902 games – in which a total of 916 players have made appearances – stands at 2029 goals for and 1071 against.
Record II: Joachim Löw will take charge of his 123rd game as DFB-Team manager Since his appointment in August 2006. His record stands at 82 victories, 22 draws and 18 defeats. In these 122 games, Joachim Löw has called up a total of 100 players, 75 of whom he gave their first chance in the national side. The latest of these – Borussia Mönchengladbach’s Patrick Herrmann – made his debut appearance in the 2-1 defeat to USA in Cologne. Liverpool’s Emre Can could become the 76th of Löw’s debutants against Poland on Friday.
Record II: The DFB-Team face their 20th encounter with Poland. In the away tie of this Euro qualification Group D in October, Poland came out 2-0 winners. Arkadiusz Milki and Sebastian Mila were the scorers on that day in Warsaw.
Record appearances: The indisputable leader of this statistic is still Lothar Matthäus. The former World Player of the Year made 150 appearances for the DFB-Team in the years 1980 to 2000. In the current squad, Lukas Podolski is by far the most experienced player with 125 caps. Captain Bastian Schweinsteiger with 111 and Lukas Podolski are the only two players with over 100 caps to their names.
Record goalscorer: On the never ending list of Germany’s international goalscorers, Miroslav Klose sits at the top with 71 goals ahead of the legendary Gerd Müller with 68. Müller however only played 62 games while Klose retired with 137 caps. The current squad’s top scorer is Lukas Podolski with 48 goals, followed by Thomas Müller with 27, Schweinsteiger with 23 and Andre Schürrle on 20 goals.
Kits: Die Mannschaft will play the games against both Poland and Scotland in the white home strip.
