Six goals for, none against and two wins – Germany have never started a World Cup qualification campaign so well! After beating Norway and the Czech Republic both 3-0, Joachim Löw’s side will want to continue this good run of form in Tuesday’s encounter (20:45 CEST) with a team Die Mannschaft have already played twice this year - Northern Ireland. DFB.de provides you will all of the most important and interesting facts ahead of the game.
HEAD-TO-HEAD: In total, the two nations have faced each other 15 times, with Germany winning on nine occasions to Northern Ireland’s two victories, both of the Northern Irish wins came in the qualification round for the 1984 Euros. The aggregate score of the last five meetings is 15-2 in Germany’s favour and the DFB Team are unbeaten in eight games against Northern Ireland. Germany’s biggest victory over Northern Ireland came in April 1977 in a friendly game in Cologne, when a brace from Klaus Fischer contributed to a convincing 5-0 win.
BIERHOFF AT HIS BEST: Bierhoff scored the quickest hattrick ever for the Germany national team between the 73rd and the 79th minute against Northern Ireland in Belfast on the 20th of August 1997. He was subbed on for Ulf Kirsten in the 70th minute with the scoreline at 1-0 and turned the game around by himself.
RUNS AND TRENDS: In 86 World Cup qualifiers, Germany have only lost twice (66 wins, 18 draws), both of these losses game at home – 1-0 in Stuttgart against Portugal in 1985 and 5-1 against England in Munich in 2001. However, the DFB Team are unbeaten in their last 25 World Cup qualifier matches and at home, they’ve only lost one of their last 33 competitive matches – a 3-0 defeat to the Czech Republic in 2007. Also, the current World Champions have won their last three games without conceding a goal. Northern Ireland, on the other hand, haven’t scored in five of their last seven games, but also have only conceded three in their last nine games. Since losing 1-0 in Glasgow to Scotland in March of 2015 they are undefeated away from home, but have however drawn their last four away matches - their last two ending goalless.
QUICK REUNION: Just 112 days after their meeting in this summer’s Euros, the two nations will meet again on Tuesday. Mario Gomez was the difference in that encounter, scoring the only goal of the game in the 29th minute, even though Germany controlled the match and should have scored more. The match statistics reflected this after the game, with Löw’s side having 28 shots (9 on target) to the Northern Irish’s two (one on target) and a pass accuracy of 90 percent. Since records began in 1980, no team has had as much possession in a European Championship’s match as Germany did against Northern Ireland (79 percent).
GOALSCORING RECORDS: Thomas Müller is currently on 36 goals in 80 games for Die Mannschaft, meaning just one more goal will put him level with current DFB Team Coordinator, Oliver Bierhoff as Germany’s tenth highest goalscorer ever.
MÜLLER CERTAIN TO SCORE: The 27 year old scored braces against both Norway and the Czech Republic, meaning for the first time in his national team career, he’s struck four times in two consecutive games. The German, who has been involved in five of Germany’s six goals so far in this qualifying campaign, is joint first in the goalscoring charts together with Poland’s Robert Lewandowski and Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo.
THE REFEREE: Italian referee Paolo Tagliavento will officiate the game in Hannover. The DFB Team have had differing experiences with the 44-year-old hairdresser, winning a European Championship qualifier 6-2 against Austria in 2011, but losing 2-1 to France in 2012.
HAPPY HUNTING GROUND IN HANNOVER: Germany have only lost one of their last 22 internationals in Hannover (18 wins, three draws) and this defeat came against Ireland in 1994 (2-0). However, they have won all of their last six games in the north German city and earned clean sheets in their last three there, scoring eleven themselves. The most recent game in Hannover was in September 2012 against the Faroe Islands (3-0). A friendly match against the Netherlands should have taken place last November in Hannover, however, the game was called off for security reasons after the Paris attacks.
THE OPPOSITION: Northern Ireland’s coach is Michael O’Neill, who himself played 31 times for his country. As a player, he won the double in Ireland with Glentoran and played five games for Coventry City in the English Premier League. He has been Northern Ireland’s coach since December 2011. Before this, he managed Shamrock Rovers to the Irish championship in 2010 and 2011 and was also their coach when they became the first Irish team to take part in the Europa League.
”GRIGG’S ON FIRE”? Will Grigg, who didn’t feature for Northern Ireland at the Euros, decided himself that he didn’t want to be in his country’s squad for this international break as he recently became a father.
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Six goals for, none against and two wins – Germany have never started a World Cup qualification campaign so well! After beating Norway and the Czech Republic both 3-0, Joachim Löw’s side will want to continue this good run of form in Tuesday’s encounter (20:45 CEST) with a team Die Mannschaft have already played twice this year - Northern Ireland. DFB.de provides you will all of the most important and interesting facts ahead of the game.
HEAD-TO-HEAD: In total, the two nations have faced each other 15 times, with Germany winning on nine occasions to Northern Ireland’s two victories, both of the Northern Irish wins came in the qualification round for the 1984 Euros. The aggregate score of the last five meetings is 15-2 in Germany’s favour and the DFB Team are unbeaten in eight games against Northern Ireland. Germany’s biggest victory over Northern Ireland came in April 1977 in a friendly game in Cologne, when a brace from Klaus Fischer contributed to a convincing 5-0 win.
BIERHOFF AT HIS BEST: Bierhoff scored the quickest hattrick ever for the Germany national team between the 73rd and the 79th minute against Northern Ireland in Belfast on the 20th of August 1997. He was subbed on for Ulf Kirsten in the 70th minute with the scoreline at 1-0 and turned the game around by himself.
RUNS AND TRENDS: In 86 World Cup qualifiers, Germany have only lost twice (66 wins, 18 draws), both of these losses game at home – 1-0 in Stuttgart against Portugal in 1985 and 5-1 against England in Munich in 2001. However, the DFB Team are unbeaten in their last 25 World Cup qualifier matches and at home, they’ve only lost one of their last 33 competitive matches – a 3-0 defeat to the Czech Republic in 2007. Also, the current World Champions have won their last three games without conceding a goal. Northern Ireland, on the other hand, haven’t scored in five of their last seven games, but also have only conceded three in their last nine games. Since losing 1-0 in Glasgow to Scotland in March of 2015 they are undefeated away from home, but have however drawn their last four away matches - their last two ending goalless.
QUICK REUNION: Just 112 days after their meeting in this summer’s Euros, the two nations will meet again on Tuesday. Mario Gomez was the difference in that encounter, scoring the only goal of the game in the 29th minute, even though Germany controlled the match and should have scored more. The match statistics reflected this after the game, with Löw’s side having 28 shots (9 on target) to the Northern Irish’s two (one on target) and a pass accuracy of 90 percent. Since records began in 1980, no team has had as much possession in a European Championship’s match as Germany did against Northern Ireland (79 percent).
GOALSCORING RECORDS: Thomas Müller is currently on 36 goals in 80 games for Die Mannschaft, meaning just one more goal will put him level with current DFB Team Coordinator, Oliver Bierhoff as Germany’s tenth highest goalscorer ever.
MÜLLER CERTAIN TO SCORE: The 27 year old scored braces against both Norway and the Czech Republic, meaning for the first time in his national team career, he’s struck four times in two consecutive games. The German, who has been involved in five of Germany’s six goals so far in this qualifying campaign, is joint first in the goalscoring charts together with Poland’s Robert Lewandowski and Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo.
THE REFEREE: Italian referee Paolo Tagliavento will officiate the game in Hannover. The DFB Team have had differing experiences with the 44-year-old hairdresser, winning a European Championship qualifier 6-2 against Austria in 2011, but losing 2-1 to France in 2012.
HAPPY HUNTING GROUND IN HANNOVER: Germany have only lost one of their last 22 internationals in Hannover (18 wins, three draws) and this defeat came against Ireland in 1994 (2-0). However, they have won all of their last six games in the north German city and earned clean sheets in their last three there, scoring eleven themselves. The most recent game in Hannover was in September 2012 against the Faroe Islands (3-0). A friendly match against the Netherlands should have taken place last November in Hannover, however, the game was called off for security reasons after the Paris attacks.
THE OPPOSITION: Northern Ireland’s coach is Michael O’Neill, who himself played 31 times for his country. As a player, he won the double in Ireland with Glentoran and played five games for Coventry City in the English Premier League. He has been Northern Ireland’s coach since December 2011. Before this, he managed Shamrock Rovers to the Irish championship in 2010 and 2011 and was also their coach when they became the first Irish team to take part in the Europa League.
”GRIGG’S ON FIRE”? Will Grigg, who didn’t feature for Northern Ireland at the Euros, decided himself that he didn’t want to be in his country’s squad for this international break as he recently became a father.
