IT'S the start of the long goodbye for departing Germany boss Joachim Low and anything other than a resounding win in their World Cup qualifier with Iceland is unthinkable.
Low finally yielded to pressure to quit, but will have one last hurrah at this summer's Euros. Before that he will do his best to start Germany on the process to surely inevitable World Cup qualification.
In their path in Duisburg are an Icelandic side who appear to have declined since the heady days of Euro 2016 and the World Cup of two years ago and have lost their last five games in a row.
But it's about how much faith punters have in a German side that were humiliated 6-0 in their last outing – a Nations League spanking in Spain?
The hosts are of course still crammed full of world class players, but they've lost plenty of their aura recently.
How the bookies view it?
Germany are unbackable at a best-priced 1/7 with bet365. Iceland are a massive 21/1 with TonyBet and the draw is 17/2 with SportNation.
Recent head to heads
The sides have only met in one qualifying campaign since German reunification and Iceland actually got a 0-0 draw in Rekcyjavik before losing 3-0 in Germany.
Players to watch
Germany have an abundance of attacking talent to choose from with İlkay Gündogan, Timo Werner and Serge Gnabry all on the hunt for goals. Gnabry has four goals in his last five games for Bayern Munich and is an acceptable 19/20 to score anytime with Unibet.
Iceland's top scorer in their squad is IFK Gothenburg striker Kolbeinn Sigporsson, who has an impressive 26 international goals in 60 appearances. He's 23/4 to score with the same firm.
Anything else that catches the eye?
In all Iceland's recent defeats, Arnar Vioarsson's side usually score. They netted against Belgium twice and Denmark this season. Presumably, with Germany surely set to win, the 11/5 with McBookie.com for the hosts to win and both teams to score is certainly of interest.
However, that's just about the only positive you can take from the visitors' point of view and they look very much a team in transition. They also lost four goals in England and five in Belgium.
For Germany, they were severely criticised and stung by that hammering from Spain and really should be able to see off Iceland by a few goals with Low's squad packed full of attacking talent as stated.
In their last four home games despite being nowhere near their best, they have managed to score three goals against Turkey, Switzerland and Ukraine – none of whom are mugs.
So it's far from impossible Germany could put on a show and the 7/4 on them scoring four or more goals with bet365 should get a run for its money.
This World Cup match between Germany and Iceland will be played on Mar 25, 2021 and kick off at 19:45. Check below for our tipsters best Germany vs Iceland prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
