One stat that really sums up the startling difference between Ireland and Germany

It's Dáithi vs whatever the German equivalent of Goliath is out there tonight.

We all knew we were up against it when we drew the World Cup holders in the Euro 2016 qualifiers. In our first encounter with zee Germans in this campaign, we required the heroics from an unlikely goal-scorer in John O'Shea to secure a memorable draw in Gelsenkirchen. However, this time around, an Irish team weakened with injuries and suspensions are somehow more "up against it" facing the mighty Germans. Football correspondent with the Sun, Owen Cowzer perfectly summed up the huge difference between the Irish and German starting XIs with one, simple stat. https://twitter.com/OCowzer/status/652178628361498624 Yep, Shay Given and Stephen Ward are yet to start in the league for their respective clubs while Jonas Hector and Marco Reus are without World Cup medals.