The last time England and Germany faced each other, it did not end too well for the former, going down 4-1 in that famous clash in the 2010 World Cup.
However, England skipper Steven Gerrard feels this England side, which will face Germany in an international friendly at Wembley on Tuesday, is a much better team than the one that crashed out of the World Cup courtesy that epic loss.
"I do feel we are a lot stronger," said Gerrard, who will be among three survivors of the 2010 game, that will also start the game on Tuesday. "There is a good mix of youth and experience in the squad at the moment. We are all moving forward and improving all the time."
This game of course holds nothing like the importance of the World Cup over three years ago, and both sides are expected to experiment and look to give some of the fringe players a chance.
England had a poor outing in the friendly against Chile on Friday, losing 2-0 thanks to a brace from Barcelona forward Alexis Sanchez.
Roy Hodgson sent out a young team against the South Americans, and while there will still be a few fresh faces in the England lineup, it will be blended with a few experienced ones as well.
"I look back to the Chile result last Friday and I came away from that game feeling different from a lot of people: I'm really confident that, if we were to meet Chile further on into a World Cup competition, we would have the players at full strength to go and beat them," Gerrard said.
"This [Germany friendly] is a game all the players are desperate to win and bounce back from the Chile performance."
Joachim Low, whose side drew 1-1 with Italy on Friday, dismissed suggestions that his side were showing disrespect to England by resting the likes of Manuel Neuer, Philipp Lahm and Mesut Ozil. The Germany coach looks at the friendly as the perfect opportunity to give some of the youngsters an opportunity to prove themselves in front of a huge crowd.
"It was clear for me that these two matches against Italy and England, I would use them to try out new players in key positions and what better test for these up-and-coming players than to play in front of a partisan crowd of 80,000 fans spurring their own team on," he said.
"It was clear to me that I needed to experiment a bit and send home some of the players who are firmly established. It was a deliberate acid test for these young players and it's definitely not the case that we're fielding a B team or that there's any lack of respect to our hosts."
Where to Watch Live
The game is scheduled for a 1.30 am IST start with live coverage on Star Sports 4 and Star Sports HD2 in India. To watch the match through live streaming online via Al Jazeera Sport in the Middle East and North Africa, click HERE. To catch the action live online in the U.S. courtesy ESPN, click HERE. To catch the game via live streaming in the U.K., click HERE.
Expected lineups: England: Hart; Walker, Cole, Smalling, Jagielka; Gerrard, Cleverley; Townsend, Rooney, Lallana; Sturridge.
Germany: Weidenfeller; Jansen, Mertesacker, Hummels, Schmelzer; S Bender, L Bender; Reus, Gotze, Draxler; Muller.
Prediction: 3-2 to Germany
