The Republic of Ireland drew comfort from the fact that they have everything to play for despite an emphatic defeat to Germany in Moss yesterday.

Goals from Sascha Riether and substitutes Piotr Trochowski and Mike Hanke gave the Germans a fully deserved win as Ireland were outplayed in the Norwegian drizzle.

With England and Belgium drawing 1-1 in the other Group B tie, Ireland stay second in the table. A draw against England in their final pool game tomorrow would guarantee Brian Kerr's team a play-off for third place overall. If they win and Germany fail to beat Belgium, Ireland will top the group and make the final.

The tight nature of the group also means that qualification for next spring's FIFA World Youth Cup in the United Arab Emirates is still within the grasp of all four sides.

"We performed as well as we were let," said a philosophical Kerr. "Germany played really, really well. They were quicker to the ball all around the field. We missed a great chance early on when we needed to score to give ourselves something to hold onto.

"We are still in with a shout, though. A draw against England will guarantee us second place.

"We knew it was going to be a tight group. We will perform against England, I have no doubt about that."

Kerr made three changes to the team that beat Belgium, Stephen Kelly, Keith Gilroy and Stephen Elliott replacing Michael Foley, Liam Kearney and Adrian Deane.

Elliott created the perfect opening for Stephen Brennan on 60 seconds, putting the Newcastle United player one-on-one with Daniel Haas. But the goalkeeper stood his ground, forcing Brennan to slice wide.

Brennan's nervous start continued and his mistake presented Germany with their first chance on eight minutes, but Brian Murphy made a terrific triple save. He parried a low shot from Alexander Meyer, and when Emmanuel Kronitis drilled in the loose ball Murphy knocked it away with his feet before David Odonker's follow-up was also cleared by the goalkeeper.

Murphy was back in action in the 19th minute, this time getting down well to hold a shot from Odonker.

Three minutes later he was helpless to prevent Germany taking the lead when a tremendous cross from the left by Odonker was met at the back post by Riether's volley.

Ireland were struggling to get hold of the ball and it was from a set-piece that they almost equalised on the half hour. Stephen Kelly whipped over a cross and fellow defender Paddy McCarthy rose well only to see his firm header flash wide.

There was little or no improvement from Ireland in the second half, and once Germany scored their second on 57 minutes the game was over. Marcel Scheid's cross from the right squirmed through to Trochowski whose low shot took a double deflection to leave Murphy stranded as it entered the left-hand corner of his net.

Rampant now, the Germans added their third goal 11 minutes from the end when Mike Hanke collected a pass with one touch before spectacularly driving the ball high into the net.

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Murphy (Manchester City); Kelly (Tottenham Hotspur), McCarthy (Manchester City), Paisley (Manchester City), Capper (Sunderland); Gilroy (Middlesbrough), Ward (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Thornton (Sunderland); Brennan (Newcastle United), Daly (Stockport County), Elliott (Manchester City). Subs: Simpemba (Wycombe Wanderers) for Daly (57 mins), Deane (Charlton Athletic) for Brennan (67 mins), Moore (Exeter City) for Elliott (80 mins.).

GERMANY: Haas (Hannover 96); Chahed (Hertha Berlin), Wingerter (Schalke 04), Fathi (Hertha Berlin); Riether (SC Freiburg), Lahm (Bayern Munich), Krontiris (Borussia Dortmund), Masmanidis (Bayer Leverkusen), Meyer (Bayer Leverkusen); Scheid (Hansa Rostock), Odonker (Borussia Dortmund). Subs: Volx (Arsenal) for Kronitis (half-time), Trochowski (Bayern Munich) for Masmmanidis (half-time), Hanke (Schalke 04) for Odonker (70 mins.).

Referee: G Jaznaferis (Greece).