Germany to face England in March friendly as a part of World Cup preparations

It might not just be Bayern Munich playing big matches in March.

Per Sport Bild, as transcribed by @iMiaSanMia on Twitter, Germany will face England in an international friendly in England at some point in March of next year as a part of their World Cup 2022 preparations. It’s also suggested that the DFB is trying to lineup another opponent to face on German soil if restrictions don’t prohibit it at the time and South Africa is said to be one of the candidates.

As it stands, Hansi Flick’s Die Mannschaft side qualified for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar with two qualifiers to spare and they don’t have anything officially on their schedule for next year, but a rematch against Gareth Southgate’s England would certainly be Flick’s most difficult test since taking over for Joachim Low, albeit a friendly.

Unfortunately, the last time these two sides met was at last summer’s European Championships in the round of 16 at Wembley stadium in London, England. Goals from Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane saw the Three Lions through to the next round, but German fans will forever have THAT Thomas Muller miss from the second half ingrained in their memories. England were arguably lucky to have nearly all of their Euro’s matches at Wembley, bar their quarter-finals matchup against the Ukraine in Rome, though Germany did play three of their matches at a reduced capacity Allianz Arena.

Photo by Robin Jones/Getty Images

With the form both nations are in, they’ll be meeting at a perfect time, for what it’s worth. Of course, a lot can happen between now and March, but Southgate’s Three Lions are coming off of an undefeated World Cup qualifying campaign, with their only blemish coming in the form of an underwhelming 1-1 draw with Hungary at Wembley last month. Since Flick has taken charge of Germany, they’ve won all seven of their qualifiers, outscoring their opponents 31-2. Liechtenstein, North Macedonia, Romania, Iceland, and Armenia are hardly what you would refer to as challenging opponents, but there’s no denying the brand of football Flick has Germany playing at the moment.

March’s contest, albeit a friendly match, will certainly be a clash of footballing titans that are both in peak form and will be well up for the task at hand.