Germany v Scotland: World Cup kings won't dominate

Mario Gomez's return to the Germany squad wasn't well received

Michael Lintorn is daring to oppose world champions Germany twice in five days, as Scotland head to Dortmund...

Germany v Scotland
Sunday, 19:45
Live on Sky Sports 5

Match Odds: Germany 1.182/11, Scotland 21.020/1, The Draw 9.28/1

Like Spain, Italy, Brazil and France before them, Germany discovered how difficult things get after winning the World Cup, being humbled 2-4 by beaten finalists Argentina in their very next game.

We laid the world champions then and will tackle them again in their first Euro 2016 qualifier against Scotland, albeit less brazenly this time by using the handicap markets.

Scotland are available to back at 2.6213/8 with a two-goal headstart, a handsome price when you consider that Tartan Army humiliation tends to come in inability to beat minnows (witness multiple flops against the likes of Faroe Islands and Lithuania) rather than being thrashed by the elite.

Like most of the Home Nations, they specialise in heroic failure - such as late one-goal defeats to Spain, Netherlands and Italy across their previous four qualifying processes - and even possess the ability to go that little bit further at times, as France fans will vouch.

That perhaps explains why their World Cup 2014 preliminary campaign went so miserably: there was no glamour opponent to inspire overachievement.

Over five years have passed since they last lost a competitive fixture by a margin greater than two goals though, and only three of their past 18 foes outclassed them by more than one.

Germany have been at least two goals superior to Scotland in just one of their 15 prior meetings - in the group stage at Euro 1992 - and have obliterated very few of their recent adversaries, the 7-1 World Cup semi-final dissection of hosts Brazil arguably distorting perceptions of them.

That was one of three victories by more than one goal in their last 14 matches, with the other two coming past ten-man Portugal and courtesy of five strikes in the closing 20 minutes against Armenia.

Another reason to suspect that Germany won't be at their best when Scotland visit Dortmund is the depletion of their World Cup squad. Per Mertesacker, Philipp Lahm and Miroslav Klose - whose replacement Mario Gomez was jeered against Argentina - have retired.

On top of that, Mats Hummels, Sami Khedira, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Mesut Ozil are expected to miss out through injury. In total, that is six players who appeared in the World Cup final absent, and as well as a seventh who would have done were it not for pulling up in the warm-up.

As ludicrous as it sounds two months on from that match at the Maracana, there is no better time for Scotland to face Germany.

Best Bet
Back Scotland (+2) to win @ 2.6213/8