Crushed by the German juggernaut
WE ShOulD have known better. Joachim low landed in Belfast talking of ‘alarming’ frailties in German club football, but it ended as it usually does; another victory for the machine they call Die Mannschaft.
Northern Ireland gave it a good go. They always do. But it soon became clear they would be joining the long list of teams that have tried and failed to inflict so much as a single defeat on the Germans outside their homeland in World Cup qualifying in the last 83 years.
That incredible away record in this competition now reads: played 47, won 37, drawn 10, lost none.
This was the 13th successive win on foreign soil, against a Northern Ireland team that had not lost a competitive game at Windsor Park for four years.
Although the miserable form of Bundesliga clubs in Europe this season — one win in 12 games — might have exposed a rare weakness in the German game, the fault line clearly does not extend to the national team.
‘When the draw was made we wanted to dominate the group, make no compromises and possibly not drop any points, which we managed to do with a neat goal average,’ said Germany manager low.
‘ having qualified and beaten Northern Ireland on home turf, there’s every reason to be satisfied.
‘Are we going to have a few beers, give the players time off to go to the Belfast pubs? No, it’s not our style.’
Some of the faces in this German team may have changed but the quality remains.
Not all of the newcomers are youngsters like 22-year-old Joshua Kimmich, the natural heir to Philipp lahm at right back, who scored the third goal and took his total of assists in World Cup qualifying to eight when he teed up Sebastian Rudy for a sensational strike after just 83 seconds.
Rudy, who was celebrating his first goal for his country, is 27. Striker Sandro Wagner, scorer of the second in the absence of Timo Werner, is 29 and now has four goals in his first four appearances. Marvin Plattenhardt slotted in as a replacement for injured left back Jonas hector.
When you are surrounded by world-class players like Toni Kroos, Thomas Muller and Mats hummels, it is much easier for new talent to flourish.
In the first half, low himself controlled the ball effortlessly with his foot and knee on the touchline before knocking it to lee hodson. Quality runs through this group.
This had the potential to be a very tricky night for a German squad who were uncharacteristically late for training on Wednesday due to heavy Belfast traffic.
But Germany made it look rather easy, just as they did when scoring twice in the first half against Northern Ireland in hanover a year ago.
until last night, those were the only goals O’Neill’s side had conceded in Group C, raising hopes of an unlikely win against Germany.
But, like so many before them, the Northern Irish tried and failed.