Robbie Keane says the Republic of Ireland have nothing to fear from Tuesday’s Euro 2016 qualifier against Germany with the world champions rattled by their shock defeat to Poland.
Germany take on the Irish in Gelsenkirchen with the hosts low on confidence following Saturday’s 2-0 defeat in Warsaw, the same day the Irish enjoyed a 7-0 romp over minnows Gibraltar in Dublin in their Group D qualifier.
The results leave Poland top of the table on goal difference with Ireland second and Scotland third, after a narrow win over Georgia, and Germany fourth.
Ireland’s captain Keane wrapped up a hat-trick against Gibraltar with the match just 18 minutes old to leave him with a record 21 goals in European qualification matches, one more than Turkey’s Hakan Sukur.
The veteran striker says Ireland can expect a very different match in Germany, but have nothing to fear from taking on the world champions.
“There is no reason why we can’t go there and get something out of the game,” said the 34-year-old LA Galaxy striker.
“It’s going to be tough, they are the world champions and it will be completely different from the game against Gibraltar, but we are going there with confidence.
“If someone had said before the qualifying tournament that we’d be going to Germany with six points, we’d have taken that.
“All that gives us is confidence and we will go there believing we can get something.
“We have to work hard for each other, we have the quality in our team to give the Germans problems with players who can score goals against them.”
Germany wasted a string of chances against Poland in Warsaw with Lukas Podolski hitting the crossbar and new cap Karim Bellarabi could have finished with a hat-trick.
The Germans failed to convert any of their 22 shots on goal, while Poland scored from two of only four chances.
Ireland manager Martin O’Neill says his side are relishing the chance to take on the world champions and has urged them to be positive.
“The lads are immediately talking about the game. This has given them confidence but Tuesday night is a totally different game of course. The attitude of the players is pretty strong,” said O’Neill.
“We have to be vigilant but if you’re going to sit back, they will find a way round.
“We have some attacking options that I think can cause them problems.”
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