IN footballing terms there is no greater contrast — one game between a country without a world ranking followed by another against the world champions.
Gibraltar remain unknown, the Germans, a household name.
Yet it is as close to certain, as any prediction can be, that Ireland will win Saturday’s qualifier and then lose in Gelsenkirchen three days later.
And herein lies the problem with international football.
Qualifiers tend to play out to form and ranking. The strong sides win and the weak teams lose. And those in between like Ireland, Poland and Scotland are left to fight for the scraps.
Still, you have to go through the motions. And on Saturday, Ireland and Gibraltar will face off and the inevitable will happen.
“I can’t see any other result other than a big Irish win,” said Brian Kerr, the former Ireland manager, who three years ago took an experimental Faroe Islands team to Gibraltar for a friendly which the hosts won 3-0.
And since then they have become members of UEFA and entered the Euro 2016 qualifiers with high hopes before Poland punctured their dreams, dishing out a 7-0 thumping.
Kerr said: “They have been scraping around looking for players from a very low level of football.
“They are not particularly good. Their standards will be below the Faroe Islands, as an example.
“Okay they beat the Faroes in 2011 but we were on a training week and that was our third game in four days.
“They won't share the Faroese experience or knowhow when it comes to international football. This is their first year so they will be seeking to get used to the speed of the game. I don’t see Ireland having any problems.”
It won’t be so easy in Germany. Scotland may have highlighted a way to frustrate the world champions but amid all the praise that Gordon Strachan’s team have received, it has to be remembered they lost.
The Germans tend to do enough to win as Ireland will discover next Tuesday.
