Joachim Low’s charges were beaten 2-0 by hosts France in the semi-final of the European Championship, meaning they were unable to capture the continental crown for a fourth time. Low has decided to stay in charge despite that frustration, though – he will have been at the helm for 12 years providing he sees his current contract through – and Germany will still be reasonably confident of retaining the Jules Rimet trophy in 2018. Indeed, there were not many players in their Euros squad who will be too old to compete in two years’ time, while it is always unwise to back against the Germans when it comes to predicting the outcome of an international tournament.
Norway missed out on Euro 2016 and have now not taken part in a major competition since the start of the millennium. Their last World Cup qualifying campaign was rather underwhelming: despite being drawn in one of the easier groups, Norway finished five points behind Iceland in the play-off spot and three adrift of Slovenia in third. Their aim will be second place behind Germany this time around, but Czech Republic and even Northern Ireland will fancy their chances of finishing ahead of Per-Mathias Hogmo’s men.
Germany will be without Jerome Boateng, Andre Schurrle, Leroy Sane and Lukas Podolski through injury, but key players such as Mesut Ozil, Toni Kroos, Manuel Neuer, Mats Hummels and Thomas Muller have all received call-ups to Low’s squad. Youngsters Julian Brandt, Max Meyer, Julian Weigl, Jonathan Tah and Niklas Sule have also been included in the group and will all be hoping for a chance to impress their international boss on Sunday, but Manchester United midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger played his final game for his country in Wednesday’s friendly against Finland and is therefore unavailable for selection.
Norway, meanwhile, have picked West Ham United’s Havard Nordtveit, Norwich City’s Alex Tettey, Fulham’s Stefan Johansen, Blackburn Rovers loanee Martin Samuelsen, Bournemouth’s Josh King and Adama Diomande of Hull City in their squad, as well as Germany-based stars Per Ciljan Skjelbred, Rune Jarstein, Orjan Nyland, Even Hovland, Stefan Strandberg and Veton Berisha. Hogmo has opted for a relatively young group, with 30-year-old Tettey the oldest outfield player and no-one in the squad possessing more than 41 caps.
It is difficult to look past a comfortable Germany victory in this weekend’s World Cup qualifier. The world champions should simply have too much attacking quality for their opponents, and while there are certain defensive issues for Low to resolve when his side take on the bigger nations, Norway are unlikely to cause them too many problems. A 3-0 Germany win could therefore be the best bet for this one, with Muller a sensible choice for first goalscorer.
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