World Cup finalists Germany are within touching distance of the 2004 European championships and can book an automatic ticket to Portugal today providing they do not taste defeat against Iceland here.
Germany top Group 5 after defeating Scotland 2-1 in their last qualifying match and just need a point against Iceland to reach Euro 2004 where they will hope to make amends for the 2000 European championships in Holland and Belgium.
National coach Rudi Voller is fully aware of the threat posed by Iceland following the 0-0 draw in Reykjavik and demanded a victory from the hosts in north Germany.
"We have to get stuck into the opponents straight away if we want to win," explained Voller. "It is no good playing half-hearted as Iceland have nothing to lose."
Former German national boss Berti Vogts, now in charge of Scotland, highlighted the game plan of the visitors and warned of the danger posed by striker Eidur Gudjohnsen.
"They will come to Hamburg and sit behind the ball," Vogts told SportBild. "Iceland will wait for an error from the Germans and rely on the counter attack and the danger man Gudjohnsen."
While the Westfalen Stadium in Dortmund -- where Germany beat Scotland 2-1 -- is a fortress for the three-time World champions, Hamburg has proved an unlucky venue with defeats by Brazil (1978), Northern Ireland (1983) and Hungary (1985), combined with a painful semifinal defeat to Holland in the 1988 European championships.
Euro 96 winners Germany have been less than convincing in the qualifying campaign so far with a hard-fought win over the Faroe Islands and a poor outing in Iceland, but all that will be forgotten if the side book their place in Portugal.
Injury problems have hindered the preparations with Bernd Schneider and Carsten Ramelow set to join long-term casualties Torsten Frings, Christoph Metzelder, Christian Ziege and Dietmar Hamann in missing the match.
However, German Player of the Year Michael Ballack is set to play after shaking off an ankle complaint while Christian Rahn is poised to replace the injured Tobias Rau on the left side and play in front of his home fans.
"I feel I belong in the team even though I have not been playing for SV Hamburg," said a confident Rahn.
There can be no mistakes from Germany with a loss against Iceland resulting in another play-off with potential opponents stronger than the Ukraine team that lost to Germany over two legs in the play-off for the last year's World Cup finals.
"We definitely do not want a play-off," emphasised Voller.
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