12 October 2012 - Reus Starts A Rout

On 12 October 2012, Ireland suffered their worst competitive home defeat, losing 1-6 to Germany in a World Cup qualifier.

Both teams entered the match with perfect records, though it was still early in the process. Germany had wins over the Faroe Islands (3-0) and Austria (2-1), while Ireland had beaten Kazakhstan away (1-2) in their only match. So most observers were expecting a competitive game.

What they got instead was a blowout. It started with a pair of first-half goals from winger Marco Reus (32', 40') and continued with second-half strikes from Mesut Özil (55' pen.) and Miroslav Klose (58'). Toni Kroos, who came on at the start of the second half, added a late brace (61', 83') to stretch the lead to 0-6 before Andy Keogh scored a consolation goal for the hosts in the second minute of stoppage time.

It is the most lopsided home defeat for Ireland in a competitive match (and not too far removed from their all-time worst loss, a 7-0 beating by Brazil in 1982).

6 September 2011 - The Wait Wasn't As Long For The Next One

On 6 September 2011, striker Robert Lewandowski gave Poland their first goal against Germany in over 31 years as they played to a 2-2 draw.

Poland has, over the course of the team's existence, had a very poor record against Germany (counting games against West Germany before unification). Prior to the 2011 match, the two teams had met sixteen times, with the Germans winning twelve of those and the other four ending as draws. The last Polish player to score against Germany was Łódź striker Zbigniew Boniek in May 1980 (two years later, Boniek moved to Italy where he enjoyed successful spells with Juventus and Roma). Since then, the teams had met only four times, with Germany winning each one.

But in Gdánsk in 2011, Robert Lewandowski--who had just moved to Germany after joining Borussia Dortmund the year before--completed the end of a 55th-minute counter-attack to put Poland up 1-0. The lead lasted only thirteen minutes before thee referee awarded a penalty to Germany, duly converted by Toni Kroos.

Poland received a penalty of their own in the 90th minute, with Jakub Blaszczykowski taking the honors and restoring the lead. But with just seconds left, the hosts were denied a landmark victory when second-half substitute striker Cacau scored in the 94th minute to end the game as a 2-2 draw.