Republic of Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni has insisted that the injuries that have decimated his starting lineup will not be an excuse if his side lose to Germany on Friday evening.

Richard Dunne, Darron Gibson, Kevin Doyle, James McClean, Glenn Whelan and Sean St Ledger are all absent from Trapattoni's squad but the Italian believes that he still has players at his disposal that can compete with Germany.

Trapattoni said: "We don't need an excuse. Before the Euros, we went 24 games with only one loss.

"Everyone must go on the pitch and give 100%. We need 11 players running and running. I know German football and now I study this team. I have seen DVDs.

"I know every player, but don't forget that we also have players like the Germany players."

Republic of Ireland will be looking to build on their opening match of their World Cup qualifying campaign, when they beat Kazakhstan 2-1.