Joachim Löw’s Germany national team’s winning streak can extend to eight wins out of eight on Monday (20:45 CEST) with a win against Norway in Stuttgart. DFB.de checks the facts before Germany’s 22nd meeting with the Scandinavians.
HEAD TO HEAD: Germany and Norway have so far played 21 international games against each other and the Germans hold the clear lead in the head to head record – they’ve won 14 times, with five draws and two losses. There was an interval of 73 years between the losses – the first was in 1936 and the second occurred in Germany’s last home game between the sides, which was a friendly in 2009. Germany racked up nine victories and one draw during this interval. On home turf, Germany have only lost the aforementioned latest home match in Düsseldorf in February 2009 (1-0) and there were six wins and two draws in the other eight matches. There was also a meeting between the countries’ Olympic teams in the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, which was officially said to be at a neutral ground, which the Norwegians won 2-0.
GUARANTEED GOALS: There has always been at least one goal in the 21 matches to date between Germany and Norway.
MATCH HISTORY: The first game against the Scandinavians took place in November 1923 in Stadion Hoheluft, Hamburg, which Germany won 1-0. The Germans then lost 2-0 in the quarterfinals of the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games. The teams also met in the 1954 World Cup qualifiers: the first leg ended as a 1-1 draw in Oslo, then the Germans won the second leg 5-1 in Hamburg. The most recent clash was the first leg match in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers exactly a year ago – the Germans won 3-0 in Oslo after goals from Thomas Müller (15’, 60’) and Joshua Kimmich (45’), which was his first international goal. Müller played a direct role in all three goals (two goals, one assist).
THE STADIUM: The Mercedes-Benz Arena in Stuttgart, formerly Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion, Neckarstadion and Adolf-Hitler-Kampfbahn during the Nazi period, will be a venue for a Germany international for the 30th time. The team’s record in the stadium is positive, with 18 wins, three draws and eight losses. The 3-1 victory over Portugal in the 2006 World Cup started a four-match winning streak at the stadium, the last of which came in a 1-0 friendly against Chile in March 2014. Five competitive matches have kicked off here for the DFB team, four of which have resulted in victory. The exception was a 1-0 loss to Portugal in the 1986 World Cup qualifiers.
FOND MEMORIES: Joachim Löw was a player for the stadium’s tenants, VfB Stuttgart, in the 1980-81 season, assistant coach in 1995-96 and head coach from 1996-98, during which time he won the DFB Pokal with the team in 1997. Löw celebrated his first competitive match as national team coach in the Stuttgart stadium with a 1-0 win in a Euros qualification match against Ireland almost exactly 11 years ago.
RETURNEES: Bernd Leno, Joshua Kimmich, Timo Werner, Sami Khedira, Mario Gomez, Sebastian Rudy and Antonio Rüdiger are the seven players in the current national squad who have a past at VfB Stuttgart.
RECORD: Germany have had an almost perfect road to Russia 2018 so far, with seven wins from seven matches and a goal difference of 27 (29 scored, 2 conceded). The German national team’s record has never been so good at any Euros or World Cup qualifying stage after seven matches. Only two teams in the current European Qualifiers have won their first seven matches: Germany and Switzerland and the DFB team certainly has the better goal difference of the two.
Joachim Löw’s Germany national team’s winning streak can extend to eight wins out of eight on Monday (20:45 CEST) with a win against Norway in Stuttgart. DFB.de checks the facts before Germany’s 22nd meeting with the Scandinavians.
HEAD TO HEAD: Germany and Norway have so far played 21 international games against each other and the Germans hold the clear lead in the head to head record – they’ve won 14 times, with five draws and two losses. There was an interval of 73 years between the losses – the first was in 1936 and the second occurred in Germany’s last home game between the sides, which was a friendly in 2009. Germany racked up nine victories and one draw during this interval. On home turf, Germany have only lost the aforementioned latest home match in Düsseldorf in February 2009 (1-0) and there were six wins and two draws in the other eight matches. There was also a meeting between the countries’ Olympic teams in the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, which was officially said to be at a neutral ground, which the Norwegians won 2-0.
GUARANTEED GOALS: There has always been at least one goal in the 21 matches to date between Germany and Norway.
MATCH HISTORY: The first game against the Scandinavians took place in November 1923 in Stadion Hoheluft, Hamburg, which Germany won 1-0. The Germans then lost 2-0 in the quarterfinals of the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games. The teams also met in the 1954 World Cup qualifiers: the first leg ended as a 1-1 draw in Oslo, then the Germans won the second leg 5-1 in Hamburg. The most recent clash was the first leg match in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers exactly a year ago – the Germans won 3-0 in Oslo after goals from Thomas Müller (15’, 60’) and Joshua Kimmich (45’), which was his first international goal. Müller played a direct role in all three goals (two goals, one assist).
THE STADIUM: The Mercedes-Benz Arena in Stuttgart, formerly Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion, Neckarstadion and Adolf-Hitler-Kampfbahn during the Nazi period, will be a venue for a Germany international for the 30th time. The team’s record in the stadium is positive, with 18 wins, three draws and eight losses. The 3-1 victory over Portugal in the 2006 World Cup started a four-match winning streak at the stadium, the last of which came in a 1-0 friendly against Chile in March 2014. Five competitive matches have kicked off here for the DFB team, four of which have resulted in victory. The exception was a 1-0 loss to Portugal in the 1986 World Cup qualifiers.
FOND MEMORIES: Joachim Löw was a player for the stadium’s tenants, VfB Stuttgart, in the 1980-81 season, assistant coach in 1995-96 and head coach from 1996-98, during which time he won the DFB Pokal with the team in 1997. Löw celebrated his first competitive match as national team coach in the Stuttgart stadium with a 1-0 win in a Euros qualification match against Ireland almost exactly 11 years ago.
RETURNEES: Bernd Leno, Joshua Kimmich, Timo Werner, Sami Khedira, Mario Gomez, Sebastian Rudy and Antonio Rüdiger are the seven players in the current national squad who have a past at VfB Stuttgart.
RECORD: Germany have had an almost perfect road to Russia 2018 so far, with seven wins from seven matches and a goal difference of 27 (29 scored, 2 conceded). The German national team’s record has never been so good at any Euros or World Cup qualifying stage after seven matches. Only two teams in the current European Qualifiers have won their first seven matches: Germany and Switzerland and the DFB team certainly has the better goal difference of the two.
THE WORLD CUP BECKONS: The DFB team could secure an early ticket to Russia 2018 with a win against Norway, but only if Northern Ireland, who are currently five points behind in second place, fail to win their home game against the Czech Republic. If Northern Ireland manage to keep the gap at five points, it will come down to a showdown between group C’s top two on 5th October in Belfast. If Löw’s XI win their remaining home games against Norway and Azerbaijan (8th October), they will qualify for the World Cup, regardless of Germany’s result against Northern Ireland.
THE OPPONENTS: With a haul of seven points from the same number of games so far, Norway are fourth in the group, nine points behind Northern Ireland and only have a theoretical chance of reaching the playoffs. The Norwegian first team have only managed victories against San Marino (4-1), Azerbaijan (2-0) and one draw against the Czech Republic (1-1). Lars Lagerbäck’s XI have lost all three away games in the group. Norway are currently 85th in the FIFA World rankings – 83 places behind second-placed Germany. The Norwegians were in 12th place seven years ago.
NORWAY’S ACHIEVEMENTS: Norway have reached the final rounds of three World Cups, twice in the last 16 – their greatest achievements so far, next to their bronze medal at the 1936 Olympic Games. They were knocked out by Italy in both 1938 and 1998.
THE HEAD COACH: Norway’s head coach Lars Lagerbäck came in on 1st February 2017 to replace Per Matthias Högmo, who was dismissed in November 2016. Lagerbäck can look back at a long stint as coach of his home country Sweden, who he led from 2000 to 2009. Most recently, he coached Iceland’s national team from 2011-2016 and cooked up a surprise as they reached the quarterfinals for the first time. The 69-year-old has never coached a professional club, only lower league teams. He also coached Nigeria for four months in 2010, during their World Cup campaign.
THE SQUAD: Four players in the current Norwegian squad are under contract at German clubs: Rune Jarstein (Hertha BSC) and Havard Nordtveit (TSG 1899 Hoffenheim) earn their wages in the Bundesliga, while Gustav Valsvik (Eintracht Braunschweig) and Mats Møller Dæhli (FC St. Pauli) play in the Bundesliga 2. Omar Elabdellaoui (Eintracht Braunschweig) and Tarik Elyounoussi (1899 Hoffenheim) have also played in Germany in the past.
IMPRESSIVE STREAK: Germany have only lost two World Cup qualifier matches from a total of 91 games, with 71 wins and 18 draws. The two losses came in 1985 against Portugal (1-0) in Stuttgart and 16 years ago against England (5-1) in 2001 in Munich. Germany remain unbeaten in their last 30 World Cup qualifier matches (25 wins, five draws), the last 13 of which have all been wins. The German record lies at 16 consecutive victories in the World Cup qualifiers between 1969 and 1985. Germany have won 13 of their last 16 internationals (3 draws). The last loss came in a 2-0 defeat to France in the 2016 Euros semi-final in Marseille.
A LOSS: If the DFB team lose in Stuttgart against Norway, it will be Germany’s 50th loss in their 365th competitive match (243 wins, 72 draws).
LANDMARK GOAL: The DFB XI have scored 2,098 goals in 933 games – the goal after next will be the 2,100th for Die Mannschaft. Another tally approaching a round number is the team’s conceded goals total, as it currently stands at 1,096.
EARLY STARTER: 3:43 into the 2-1 win over the Czech Republic, Timo Werner scored Germany’s fastest goal since May 2013, when Lukas Podolski scored in the first minute against Ecuador.
A LONG RUN: Joshua Kimmich has played each and every minute in the last 20 international fixtures. Only Berti Vogts (three times, max. 34 games) and Franz Beckenbauer (21) have played more consecutive games – and Kimmich can equal Beckenbauer in the Norway match.
MÜLLER AND ÖZIL CAN CLIMB THE RANKINGS: Thomas Müller is going into his 87th international, which will see him overtake Oliver Kahn and Andreas Brehme and take 21st place in the leaderboard of German national caps. Rudi Völler, who is 20th in the list, played 90 times for the DFB team. If Müller scores, he’ll overtake Germany’s business manager Oliver Bierhoff in the all-time top goalscorer list; they both currently have 37 goals to their names, which puts them 10th. Mesut Özil can gain his 86th international cap, which would see him tie with Kahn and Brehme in 22nd place.
STRENGTH IN ATTACK: The German team have scored 29 times already in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, which is more than three times what Norway have achieved (eight goals). Only Belgium have scored more in the qualifiers (33). The DFB XI have had the third-most shots (162; Portugal 175, Belgium 168) and have had the second-most clear-cut chances of all teams in the qualifiers (28; Belgium 29).
TOP STATS: Germany also come out top in the defensive stats; they are tied with England, Northern Ireland, Belgium and Croatia on two goals conceded. The nine shots allowed is second to only Belgium (eight), while France have also only allowed their opponents nine shots. Joachim Löw’s men are also playing fair and square: the 51 fouls they’ve committed is the lowest of all teams after seven matches.
