IRELAND POSE A threat similar to the one which Germany failed to deal with during their first defeat in 19 competitive matches.

At least that is the opinion of manager Joachim Löw, who has compared the Boys in Green to Group D rivals Poland ahead of the next set of qualifiers tomorrow night.

This year’s World Cup winners dropped three points on Saturday evening, going down 2-0 to the Poles, and are under pressure to bounce back when they welcome Martin O’Neill’s men to Gelsenkirchen.

“We’ve seen both of the Irish games and having analyzed them, we can expect a copy of Poland,” said Löw. “There is nothing new to us. The Irish are good fighters who have commitment and a fantastic fighting spirit.

“They know how to defend and are a very well-organised team. But at the same time, like Poland they have four excellent players in attack. Robbie Keane is very experienced and has an eye for goal, (Aiden) McGeady and (James) McClean and other players on the wings are very good at dribbling around their opponents.

So I think Poland and Ireland are very similar – very fast on the counter, coming from the wings and putting dangerous crosses in.”

Ireland, level with Poland on six points each, will be looking to avoid defeat having gone down by a combined score of 9-1 over two games during the last World Cup qualifying campaign and Löw thinks they have a decent shot of making the finals in two years’ time.

“The come to Germany high in self confidence as they are group leaders,” he added. “With three teams qualifying from this group, they are in with a more than reasonable chances of making it to France.”

Reporting by Stephen Doyle 

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