So today saw the draw for the group qualification stage for the 2014 World Cup, and what is a somewhat familiar-looking group for Germany. In what is a six-team Group C, the Nationalmannschaft have been pitted against Sweden, Austria, the Republic of Ireland, Kazakhstan and the Faroe Islands.
All of these nations have at some time or another been drawn against Germany at the group qualifying stage for either the World Cup or European Championship, and two are very recent opponents from the Euro 2012 campaign: Austria and Kazakhstan.
At the time of the draw being made, the Nationalmannschaft had played a total of eighteen international tournament qualifying matches against these five opponents – winning fourteen and drawing four; their record in such fixtures against these five teams is as follows:
Sweden
5-0 FIFA World Cup 1938 Qualifier (21.11.1937, Hamburg)
1-1 FIFA World Cup 1966 Qualifier (04.11.1964, Berlin)
2-1 FIFA World Cup 1966 Qualifier (26.09.1965, Stockholm)
2-0 FIFA World Cup 1986 Qualifier (17.10.1984, Köln)
2-2 FIFA World Cup 1986 Qualifier (25.09.1985, Stockholm)
Qualifying Match Record: P5 W3 D2 L0 F12 A4
Austria
2-0 FIFA World Cup 1970 Qualifier (13.10.1968, Wien)
1-0 FIFA World Cup 1970 Qualifier (10.05.1969, Nürnberg)
2-0 FIFA World Cup 1982 Qualifier (29.04.1981, Hamburg)
3-1 FIFA World Cup 1982 Qualifier (14.10.1981, Wien)
0-0 UEFA European Championship 1984 Qualifier (27.04.1983, Wien)
3-0 UEFA European Championship 1984 Qualifier (05.10.1983, Gelsenkirchen)
2-1 UEFA European Championship 2012 Qualifier (03.06.2011, Wien)
Qualifying Match Record: P7 W6 D1 L0 F13 A2
Republic of Ireland
1-0 UEFA European Championship 2008 Qualifier (02.09.2006, Stuttgart)
0-0 UEFA European Championship 2008 Qualifier (13.10.2007, Dublin)
Qualifying Match Record: P2 W1 D1 L0 F1 A0
Faroe Islands
2-1 UEFA European Championship 2004 Qualifier (16.10.2002, Hannover)
2-0 UEFA European Championship 2004 Qualifier (11.06.2003, Tórshavn)
Qualifying Match Record: P2 W2 D0 L0 F4 A1
Kazakhstan
3-0 UEFA European Championship 2012 Qualifier (12.10.2010, Astana)
4-0 UEFA European Championship 2012 Qualifier (26.03.2011, Kaiserslautern)
Qualifying Match Record: P2 W2 D0 L0 F7 A0
Overall Record v 2014 WCQ Group Opponents: P18 W14 D4 L0 F37 A7
Looking at the above statistics, history suggests easy qualification for Brazil 2014 – and another unbeaten World Cup qualifying campaign…