Germany
are the first team to qualify for the 2008 European Championships if
you don’t consider host nations Austria and Switzerland. In their
most recent qualifier - a 0-0 away draw with the Republic of Ireland -
Germany had the following team:

• Jens Lehmann (Goalkeeper, Arsenal, 37 year old, 48 caps)
• Arne Friedrich (Defender, Hertha Berlin, 28 year old, 52 caps)
• Clemens Fritz (Defender, Werder Bremen, 26 year old, 7 caps)
• Marcell Jansen (Defender, Bayern Munich, 21 year old, 18 caps)
• Per Mertesacker (Defender, Werder Bremen, 23 year old, 35 caps)
• Christoph Metzelder (Defender, Real Madrid, 26 year old, sold from Borussia Dortmund before this season, 35 caps)
• Torsten Frings (Midfielder, Werder Bremen, 30 year old, 67 caps 10 goals)
• Bastian Schweinsteiger (Midfielder, Bayern Munich, 23 year old, 45 caps 13 goals)
• Piotr Trochowski (Midfielder, Hamburg, 23 year old, 7 caps 0 goals)
• Mario Gómez (Striker, Stuttgart, 22 year old, 3 caps 3 goals)
• Kevin Kuranyi (Striker, Schalke, 25 year old, 42 caps 19 goals)

The strength of the German squad is shown by the players that didn’t play:

• Miroslav Klose (Stiker, Bayern Munich, 29 year old, 70 caps 35 goals)
• Lukas Podolski (Striker, Bayern Munich, 22 year old, 40 caps 23 goals)
• Oliver Neuville (Striker, Borussia Mönchengladbach, 34 year old, 65 caps 9 goals)
• Thomas Hitzlsperger (Midfielder, Stuttgart, 25 year old, 28 caps 3 goals)
• Bernd Schneider (Midfielder, Bayer Leverkusen, 33 year old, 80 caps 4 goals)
• Michael Ballack (Midfielder, Chelsea, 31 year old, 77 caps 35 goals)
• David Odonkor (Midfielder, Real Betis, 23 year old, 12 caps 1 goal)
• Philipp Lahm (Defender, Bayern Munich, 23 year old, 35 caps)

15 of these 19 players play in the German Bundesliga, two play in the English Premier league and two play in the Spanish La Liga.

10 of the players are 25 year old or younger. The average age against Ireland was 25,8.