FIFA World Cup Qualifiers: Germany

Arsenal’s newest signing Mesut Ozil at practice for Germany

Germany currently sit comfortably atop Group C with 16 points from 6 games. They are 5 points ahead of second place Austria and will no doubt be looking to increase that lead by the time this week’s qualifiers are done.

Germany, or Die Mannschaft as they are commonly referred to among non-German language media, have been in flying form during their World Cup qualifiers, scoring a total of 22 goals in 6 games and conceding only 7. They remain undefeated so far, winning 5 games and drawing 1. They will be looking to continue this good run of form when they take on both Austria and the Faroe Islands in a matter of four days.

Germany are currently spoiled for talent in almost every department. Nevertheless, here’s the team that manager Joachim Low has picked for these two qualifiers: Rene Adler, Manuel Neuer Ron-Robert Zieler; Marcel Schmelzer, Benedikt Howedes, Mats Hummels, Philipp Lahm, Per Mertersacker, Jerome Boateng; Sven Bender, Sami Khedira, Mesut Ozil, Andre Schurrle, Julian Draxler, Thomas Muller, Toni Kroos, Sidney Sam, Marco Reus; Miroslav Klose, Max Kruse, Mario Gomez.

Germany’s first match is against Austria, who currently trail Die Mannschaft by 5 points. The last time these two met, Germany managed to beat them 2-1 and although the margin of victory was small, what mattered was that Germany got all three points. This time, Germany will be playing at home and it will be very tough for the Austrians to get any kind of result from this match.

Germany’s next opponents are minnows Faroe Islands. In the corresponding group encounter, the Germans ran away comfortable 3-0 winners thanks to a Mario Gotze opener and a Mesut Ozil brace. Even though the Germans won’t have the home advantage this time around, they are the strongest team in the group. Faroe Islands, in contrast, cannot qualify for the World Cup and have conceded a whopping 20 goals during their qualifying campaign and scoring only 2.

Joachim Low would want the team to qualify directly out of the group instead of having to go through the play-offs, and they are already in a very strong position to secure their passage into next year’s World Cup. He will no doubt want to continue their good run of form and win the next two matches, in turn ensuring that they remain atop Group C and therefore in the running to qualify for the World Cup.

Germany are currently full of young talent and it’s hard to imagine them not getting the required results in their next two matches. However, it won’t be as easy as it’s being made out to be. They will have to put in decent performances to win these next two matches. However, one might see Low experimenting with the line-up against Faroe Islands (given that they aren’t the strongest of oppositions).

The current generation of Germans are all talented players and will no doubt want to win the World Cup this time around. They finished third in 2006 and 2010 and will want to better those results in 2014. However, they will first have to qualify for the World Cup.