DOHA: Germany, the four-time World Cup champion, and Spain, the 2010 champion, have been placed together in the same group for the World Cup finals on Friday.
In Group E, the European champions will meet Japan and the winner of an intercontinental play-off between Costa Rica and New Zealand.
Last November, Spain hammered Germany 6-0 in a Nations League match.
“It was inevitable that we were going to get a strong opponent from the pot,” Germany goalkeeper and captain Manuel Neuer remarked.
“We have negative memories, but something like that doesn’t happen to us twice.
“We’re confident, we’re going to have a good tournament,” the Bayern Munich player said.
Coach Hansi Flick told ARD: “It’s an interesting group, but not easy.
“We’re expecting a lot from this tournament. Japan is a team with a lot of players in the Bundesliga so they have a lot of quality.
“We were intending to play a friendly against them so that will be ditched.”
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