Germany v Slovakia: It’s finally Muller time at Euro 2016

Such was Slovakia’s desire to play for nothing more than goalless draw in their final Group B fixture against England at Euro 2016, their team that finished the game included five recognised central defenders and two full-backs.

Despite beating Germany 3-1 in one of their warm-up matches for the tournament, when torrential rain hammered down in Augsburg, it is hard to forecast Jan Kozak being any more adventurous in this rematch with the world champions than he was against the Three Lions.

In fact, Slovakia mustered just seven shots on target during the group phase and between the squad managed just 31 touches of the ball in the penalty box of the opposition. Both of these were tournament lows.

Throw in that Germany enjoyed the most possession of any nation during the group stage and had more touches of the ball than anyone and the narrative of this match looks fairly obvious.

So the ultimate question is whether Joachim Loew’s men can do what England couldn’t and score?

The good news for Germany is that they created a group-stage high of 53 scoring opportunities and their final match against Northern Ireland should serve as ideal preparation for this last-16 clash, even if the Slovakians are more capable and technical in possession.

Thomas Muller is still waiting for his first ever goal at a Euros finals, despite having six chances from inside the box in the 1-0 victory over Northern Ireland.

The Bayern Munich forward missed the previous defeat to Slovakia and his odds of 23/20 to score at any time in the 90 minutes look good value.

Alternatively, it is 17/10 that Muller is on target and Germany win without the need for extra time.

Germany have also opened the scoring in the first half of five of their last six matches, with the exception being the goalless draw with Poland in Group C.

So there is also plenty of appeal in the 5/4 of the Germans being ahead at both half time and full time against Slovakia.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.