Germany welcome Romania to Hamburg’s Volksparkstadion on Friday evening in the latest round of the World Cup 2022 Qualifiers.
The hosts sit comfortably in Group J as new manager Hansi Flick has enjoyed a perfect start from his club with straight victories and no goals conceded in his first three games with the national team.
Meanwhile, Romania have fought back from a tough start to this campaign and now face a battle with Armenia and North Macedonia for second place. They come into this matchup after a frustrating draw with North Macedonia last time out and look to bounce back.
Under Flick’s fresh influence Germany seem to have their mojo back scoring 12 goals in the space of a week and conceding none. They beat Liechtenstein 2-0, Armenia 6-0 and topped the week off with a 4-0 victory against Iceland.
While Germany are flying high Romania arguably have more on the line as they battle with two other countries for the second qualification spot. After overcoming a poor start to the season which included four consecutive defeats, Romania come into this matchup having not conceded in the past three games.
Injury has ruled out Robin Gosens out of Flick’s winning side so Paris Saint-Germains Thilo Kehrer looks set to start at left back while Jonas Hoffman is likely to retain his spot on the opposite side of the back four.
Romania will be without midfielder Dragos Nedelcu, who is suspended due to an accumulation of bookings in the qualifiers up to this point in the competition.