Berliner Tageblatt - Germany to face Spain at World Cup with 'negative memories' of friendly rout

The European giants will also face Japan as well as the winners of an intercontinental play-off between Costa Rica and New Zealand in Group E.

Spain thrashed Germany 6-0 in a Nations League match last November.

Germany goalkeeper and captain Manuel Neuer said: "It was inevitable that we were going to get a strong opponent from the pot.

"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."

A.Gasser--BTB