Germany secured their spot at Euro 2016 after they recorded a 2-1 win over Georgia in the final qualifier on Sunday night.
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Germany needed just a point against Georgia in Leipzig to guarantee itself a top-two finish in Group D but Max Kruse’s 79th-minute victor ensured Joachim Loew’s men progressed as group winners.
Grzegorz Krychowiak’s fine strike gave Poland the lead, but Martin O’Neill’s side hit back less than three minutes later through a Jon Walters penalty.
Ireland finished with 10 men when captain John O’Shea earned his second yellow card in the last minute. We let ourselves down.
“We are confident. Of course we did not feel great after the Ireland defeat but we know how we can play”. But there is a long way to go until the EURO and we know that a long period of preparation will do us a lot of good. “Three, four huge chances early on and then the mistakes start creeping in”, he said.
However, they were pegged back when Jaba Kankava caught Manuel Neuer by surprise with a first time volley from the edge of the box after Germany failed to clear their lines from a corner.
Having regained the initiative, Germany duly played out time to book their place in France next summer.
“This has been a big success, that’s obvious”, De Biasi said.
During this qualifying campaign we had to make a few changes in the team and it is obvious that not everything would run smoothly after that.
The equaliser seemed to have given Georgia confidence and they almost took the lead in the 57th minute as Valeri Qazaishvili skipped past two challenges before firing over the crossbar from close range.
Former Manchester United winger Nani was on the scoresheet for Portugal, with Joao Moutinho scoring their other goal in a 2-1 victory in Serbia, who had both Aleksandar Kolarov and Nemanja Matic sent off.
Romania nailed down the second qualifying spot in Group F after easing past the Faroe Islands in Torshavn.
The result saw Germany finish top of the table by a point, while Poland join them in qualifying directly for the finals in France after their 2-1 win over the Republic of Ireland in Warsaw. Not the way we are now operating in front of goal.
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The Hungarians, who last qualified for the finals in 1972, remain in contention to qualify as the best third placed team, however, but need Spain to avoid defeat to Ukraine in Kiev.
