Germans focused on summer seedings

THIS week we have been offered a glimpse as to how the other half live.

Ireland’s qualification hopes might have all but vanished with three games to play but Germany arrived in Dublin this week with their minds, not so much on tonight’s opponents, but on the seedings for next summer’s finals.

Quite a luxury considering they still have four games to play. Ireland, it seems, are something of an afterthought. At least, they were at yesterday’s German press conference in Ballsbridge.