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Granted it’s pretty scant consolation, but at least the most formidable side in Ireland’s group didn’t exactly shoot the lights out last night either.

Jogi Loew’s side opened their World Cup qualifying campaign against the Faroes in Hannover and by all accounts they laboured to victory over a team who are ranked even lower than Kazakhstan, with two second half goals from Mesut Ozil making the difference in a routine win.

The Germans wasted a host of opportunities against the Northern European minnows and looked more like the side that struggled badly against Italy in the Euro semi-final than the team that had swept all before them en route the tournament.

Saying that, they still won 3-0, they did so comfortably and they have another qualifier against Austria on Tuesday night to fine-tune their preparations. On the same night, Ireland will play Oman in London where, knowing Trap, there will probably be very little change in approach or personnel despite our struggles last night.

Germany may not have been on fire, but a glance at the names on their team sheet alone is enough to get Irish fans worried, particularly after what we witnessed last night.

Of course we could always do them at the Aviva next month, but we're not exactly looking forward to the clash with any particular relish at the moment.