Germany have one foot in Brazil and Ireland are almost certainly going to miss out on the Copacabana and other attractions.

But the Boys in Green can take a little bit of heart from the news that Germany will be missing a string of key players ahead of Friday's World Cup qualifier in Cologne.

Borussia Dortmund pair Ilkay Gundogan and Marco Reus are out of the remaining qualifiers. Their club team-mate Sven Bender also misses out, as does his brother Lars of Bayer Leverkusen.

Marcel Schmelzer, Miroslav Klose, Mario Gomez and Lukas Podolski are also injured.

After Germany play Ireland, they face an away match against second placed Sweden. But if they get at least a draw against Ireland, they will be through to the World Cup finals unless Sweden thrash them by at least 15 goals - a figure that could change depending on Friday's scorelines.