Germany vs Northern Ireland
European Qualifiers – 2018 World Cup
Date: Tuesday; 11th October 2016
Kick-off at 19:45 UK
Venue: HDI Arena, Hanover.
orthern Ireland warm up for a trip to Germany on Tuesday with a seemingly straightforward home clash against San Marino.
San Marino have never won a World Cup qualifier, losing 55 and drawing two, and have lost all 20 of their matches against the home nations (Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales), scoring just three goals in that time and conceding 86.
Michael O'Neill's team will be confident of adding to a strong home record which has seen them win six of their last eight home matches at Windsor Park.
The manager, whose team drew 0-0 with Czech Republic in their opening Group C game, is keen to embrace home surroundings during this campaign.
"You cannot have a good campaign and drop points at home," O'Neill said.
"Before we played our first match of this campaign, at our training camp in Austria we had a good meeting with the players and told them where we believed we had to deliver points and at home was a big factor in that.
"Getting as many points on the board here against San Marino, Azerbaijan and Norway would set us up for the Czech Republic and Germany games to come."
A huge game for Northern Ireland and they don’t get much tougher than this. The Irish go there on the back of a 4-0 win over San Marino on the weekend, but they have to try and find a huge defensive effort that would try and shut down the Germans. Germany have come out of the gates firing on all cylinders in their quest to reach the World Cup 2018 and have banked 3-0 wins in both of their qualifiers so far. Can Northern Ireland survive the trip to Hannover or will they suffer their first defeat of qualifying? Germany are 1/7 for the win,with the draw at 13/2 and Northern Ireland are a huge 16/1 shot to win.
Boylesports are running their Crossbar Challenge promotion for all World Cup 2018 qualifiers which feature a home nation. They will refund all losing bets as a free bet if either side hits the crossbar in the match (the ball must rebound back into play to activate the promotion) and the maximum free bet that can be picked up from the offer is £25. There is one free bet per customer and this applies to your first wager placed on the game, but it does cover all selections in all markets. Register an account with online betting site Boylesports and earn a free £20 bet as a welcome bonus from them.
Germany v Northern Ireland Betting Tips
It looks as if this group is going to be plain sailing for Germany after all, as was expected from the off. They opened with a 3-0 win on the road at Norway and then followed that up on the weekend with an easy 3-0 win at home over the Czech Republic. In five of their last seven qualification matches, Germany have scored three or more goals. So this could get rough for Northern Ireland. These two met at Euro 2016 with the Germans taking a 1-0 win, but they wasted a lot of chances in that match to run up a big score. So the Germans are cruising the moment with three wins on the trot and they have lost just one of their last six in a W4 D1 L1 record. They have the firepower in their ranks to put the Northern Irish to the sword you would feel, given their current form and they are a quote of 8/1 5to win to nil in this meeting.
In the anytime goalscorer market you can have a look at Thomas Muller for a price of 4/6 with Mario Gotze at a11/10. Muller has scored a brace in each of the two 2018 World Cup Qualifiers so far and is bang in form. You can take a shot at 10/11 for Germany to win by 3 goals or more of if you just want them to follow suit from their other two games and land a win by three goals exactly then that is a price of 10/3. Germany have played three games this season (including a friendly against Finland) and have scored eight unanswered goals. It’s hard to see how Northern Ireland are going to have a big impact against them. The last time that Germany hosted Northern Ireland was in the Euro 2000 qualifiers and the Germans won 4-0. Germany have a W5 D3 L0 record against the Irish.
Northern Ireland have scored just the one goal in their last four meetings with German, shipping a total of twelve goals in that sequence of games. Tough, tough game for them. Michael O’Neill’s men have collected four points from their two qualification games so far, a battling draw in the Czech Republic being followed up a comfortable 4-0 win over San Marino on the weekend. Northern Ireland clearly aren’t going to be a huge threat in this one and Kyle Lafferty is running at a price of 6/1 in the anytime goalscorer market just to highlight that. When they ran into Germany in the European Championships in the summer, Northern Ireland managed just over 21% of possession the game, managing just one shot in the entire game. Can their defence pull off something special?
Who will win – Germany v Northern Ireland Predictions
Germany will bag the win, there’s little doubt of that and they should be a banker for Tuesday night’s qualifying action. They have been on fire and Thomas Muller is looking sharp at the moment. The Germans are capable of a far better return than they managed against the Irish at Euro 2016 and a Germany 3-0 correct score is probably going to have some appeal at a price of 4/1.
Germany vs Northern Ireland: Head-to-Head Stats
Germany met Ireland in the Euro 2016 group stage and came out with a narrow 1-0 win.
In a total of 15 competitive meetings, the Germans hold a healthy head-to-head record with 9 wins, 4 draws and 2 defeats.
The last meeting between Germany and Northern Ireland in a qualifying tournament was for the Euro 2000 edition.
Germany are on a 8-match unbeaten run against Northern Ireland, with 5 wins from last 5 and 3 draws from previous 3.
Germany vs Northern Ireland: Betting Tips
Germany to win 2-0 at 5.50.
