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Steve Staunton's side return to the scene of one of their famous triumphs when they embark on the road to the Euro 2008 finals.
It was 18 years ago Ireland momentously beat England in Stuttgart, with the Gottlieb-Daimler Stadium hosting Saturday's opening Group D qualifying clash with Germany.
With the Staunton era still very much in its infancy, not many are giving the current Ireland side a chance of emulating the feat of '88, in particular after a 4-0 friendly hammering to Holland two weeks ago.
But Everton midfielder Kilbane feels Ireland cannot be written off as he said: 'Qualifying is going to be tough, but I believe we can qualify - we should believe we are going to qualify.
'It's about time we did. We've not qualified for the last two, and that's been a big disappointment bearing in mind the players we've got.
'After the 2002 World Cup in Japan we were all expecting to go on to bigger and better things, but it's not happened for us, and now we have to put that right.
'There will be doubters, people who think we can't go to places and get results, and that is something we also have to address.
'We have to put in big performances to get big results, as we did in France in the last qualifying campaign when we held them to a goalless draw in Paris.
'We felt that night we could have won the game, and although we didn't, you have to build and draw on experiences like that.
'We have to be strong and defend well, and if we do that we have enough attacking players in our side to get goals for us.
'We certainly believe in each other, and we've really good spirit with lads who go out wanting to work for each other.'
After missing the Dutch debacle through injury, Ireland's big-game players in captain Robbie Keane, vice-captain Shay Given, Damien Duff and Richard Dunne are all available again.
'You can't compensate for being without players like that,' added Kilbane, who has also expressed surprise at the link with Fulham as the transfer deadline approaches.
'With them back they should give us a lift, make a difference, and with a full squad we go to Germany with a bit of confidence.
'We need to use their strengths in the coming months, especially in this game with Germany, but we all know the game and played it for a long time.
'The quality we have in the team should see us through. We've got enough about us as players to get the right results.'