World no. 25 Northern Ireland (1-1-0, 3 points) will try to live up to their dark horse billing in the 2016 UEFA European Championship as they clash with world no. 4 Germany, one of the odds-on favorite to win this summer’s tournament, at the Parc des Princes in Paris on June 21, Tuesday.
This match will conclude the tourney’s Group C competitions, with the top two or three teams, depending on the third place team’s record, advancing in the round-of-16 matches. Four third-placed squads out of the six groups will qualify in the next round based on their win-loss-draw slates.
Northern Ireland pulled off a 2-0 win over lowly Ukraine in their second round game last Thursday at the at the Parc Olympique Lyonnais in Lyon for the national team’s first victory not only of the tournament but in Euros’ history, via The Guardian.
Head coach Michael O’Neill’s boys felt that history is about to be made in the match when West Bromwich Albion defender Gareth McAuley scored the opening goal four minutes after the restart, pulling off a short-range header off a pass by midfielder Oliver Norwood.
History was indeed made when winger Niall McGinn netted their second goal six minutes into stoppage time.
The report noted that it was the Irishmen’s “first win at any major tournament since the defeat of Spain at the 1982 World Cup” and so there is clearly some momentum in them when they face the Germans this week.
Meanwhile, Germany’s perceived dominance in the group was squashed by Poland with a goalless tie at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis also last Thursday, ESPN reported.
With the top players from Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich featured in both teams, namely Thomas Müller, Mario Götze, Jerome Boateng, Joshua Kimmich and Manuel Neuer for Germany and Robert Lewandowski for Poland, the game is full of quality at every possession although no goals were scored for both sides.
The draw negated the Germans’ chance of being the first squad in Group C to qualify in the knockout stages, though, as they will have to deal with Northern Ireland in the third round if they want a better standing in the next round.
A loss by Nationalelf will put them at risk of dropping to third place in the group table and getting eliminated altogether in the tourney so expect head coach Joachim Löw’s team to show up with nothing less but their A-game against Norn Iron.
The predicted result is a 2-0 rout for Germany.
Northern Ireland starting lineup (4-5-1 formation): McGovern; Hughes, Cathcart, McAuley, J. Evans; Ward, C. Evans, Davis, Norwood, Dallas; Washington
Germany starting lineup (3-4-3 formation): Neuer; Howedes, Boateng, Hummels, Hector; Khedira, Kroos; Müller, Özil, Draxler; Götze
