Ireland face Germany tonight in a match that is beginning to become all too familiar for Irish fans.
Ahead of the game, here are a few key stats that could be worth keeping an eye on.
Undefeated at home
While Martin O'Neill's team hasn't set the world alight, they also haven't yet lost at home in this qualification campaign. There have been some disappointing results along the way, but another draw would hardly be a bad result, given the quality of opposition.
Draws
In the last three qualifying campaigns (World Cup 2010, Euro 2012, World Cup 2014) this Irish team has racked up an impressive 11 draws, and has already managed to get three so far in this campaign.
Thomas Muller
There's no doubt that the in-form striker in the world at the moment is Robert Lewandowski - 12 goals in seven games for Bayern and 10 in Euro 2016 qualifying for Poland, but his performances have perhaps distracted from just how good club team-mate Thomas Muller has been.
His eight goals and two assists in the qualifying campaign are one thing, but he has also scored eight in eight for his club side too. We hardly need to be told to keep an eye on him, of course, but we should be as worried about him as we are about the prospect of facing Lewandowski on Sunday evening.
Most goals in Euro 2016 qualifying: R. Lewandowski (10) T. Müller (8) K. Lafferty (7) E. Džeko (7) G. Bale (6) W. Rooney (6) D. Welbeck (6)
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) September 7, 2015
Our record
Since 2002, we haven't beaten Germany in the six games we've played against them, picking up three losses and three draws, one of which was that famous game in the 2002 World Cup where Robbie Keane produced a moment of magic that brought about scenes of celebration all over Ireland. That was also one of only three goals that we've scored against tonight's opposition in all those meetings.
While that's not the best record in the world, the famous 6-1 defeat and the 3-0 loss that followed it in the return leg somewhat skew the stats, with the other games being rather closer: a 1-1 draw in the 2002 World Cup, a 1-0 loss away in 2006, a 0-0 draw at home in 2007, and the most recent 1-1 draw away in Gelsenkirchen.
1994
You have to go back in the record books to a friendly that took place in Hannover in 1994 to find the last time we managed to beat them, as goals from Tony Cascarino and Gary Kelly saw us run out 2-0 winners. The starting lineup on that day included Paul McGrath, Roy Keane, Denis Irwin, with substitute appearances from Ray Houghton and Ronnie Whelan.
Passing
It will hardly surprise even the casual football fan to know that the passing stats from our last game against Germany do not reflect too kindly on us. According to Who Scored, we managed to get 373 to Germany's 689, which more or less fits with the possession statistics that showed Germany had 65% of the ball.
Their passes were for the most part much shorter than ours however, as they racked up 616 short passes, while we went for 92 long balls. With so much of the ball, they put our goal under severe pressure with 22 shots. Still, on that night we came out with an unlikely 1-1 draw, a goal that came from our only shot on target in the match. So, possession isn't everything, it's how you use the ball.
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
