St Ledger will have tough stage to audition

After narrowly avoiding a stray plastic bottle kicked in his direction on his last visit to the country, Ireland defender Seán St Ledger is hoping to dodge the full force of Germany’s attack on Friday.

Suspensions to Richard Dunne and John O’Shea triggered the prospect of the Leicester City defender being thrown into a starting berth in Cologne against the runaway leaders of World Cup qualifying Group 6.

Attempting to negate the Mannschaft’s powerful artillery, which has averaged more than three goals per qualifier so far, is a daunting task for a player without a first-team outing for two months. Still, at least he won’t be in the line of Stephen Staunton’s fire on this occasion.