Northern Ireland 0 - 1 GermanyNorthern Ireland progress after keeping Germany down to a single-goal win
Away team scorersMario Gomez 29
Never mind Will Grigg’s On Fire, it was Thomas Müller lighting up Paris as Germany advanced to the second stage. How the Bayern Munich striker has failed to register a goal in Germany’s three games to date is a mystery, for with a bit more luck he could have claimed the tournament’s first hat-trick here.
Northern Ireland will be glad he didn’t, for their progress to the last-16 stage as one of the best third-place teams ultimately rested on goal difference. A point was all Northern Ireland needed to make it through – they did not achieve that but Turkey’s 2-0 against Czech Republic in Group D later in the evening meant Michael O’Neill’s men moved into the knockout stages regardless. A fantastic achievement for a team that has already achieved so much.
Northern Ireland were fighting a rearguard action almost from the start with goalkeeper Michael McGovern forced into the first save of the game after seven minutes, leaving his line quickly to deny Müller with his legs, and the goalkeeper had to be just as lively four minutes later to close down Mario Götze’s shooting chance on the angle of the area.
“We are a very small nation and we were playing the world champions,” O’Neill said. “The way the game went did not surprise us; we don’t have any players who have experience of European football, so you have to be realistic. We hung in there and gave ourselves a chance. If we had to lose, and that was some team we were playing, that’s the best defeat we could have had. We are hopeful of another game, and I think we deserve that for what we have done in the three group matches.”
Germany were not at their slickest, and often seemed to delay or misplace the final pass, but Northern Ireland had difficulty breaking out of their own half. Müller floating a cross-cum-shot across the face of goal and the excellent Mesut Özil finding the roof of the net with a mis-hit strike appeared ominous, and despite the Will Grigg song doing the rounds mid-way through the first half, it was Northern Ireland’s defence that was terrified when Müller broke through again and put a low shot narrowly wide.
Jamie Ward did well to set up a shooting chance for himself by dispossessing Götze, but Manuel Neuer was equal to his long range effort and the white and black attacking waves broke again. Müller showed great courage and athleticism in reaching a cross with a stooping header, only to see the ball strike the foot of a post, yet it was clear Germany could not be kept out indefinitely and in fact they took the lead on their next attack. Özil’s probing ball forward was played into Müller’s path by Mario Gomez, who remained on hand to take a simple return when Müller found his route to goal blocked by McGovern and Aaron Hughes.
With the irrepressible Müller shooting against the bar from close to the penalty spot, and Gomez wasting a gilt-edged Özil invitation with a feeble shot when he only had the goalkeeper to beat, Northern Ireland’s main concern was reaching the interval without further damage. While finishing the group stage on three points might not be a calamity, anything approaching a rout was to be avoided if at all possible.
Statisticians busily scanning the permutations reckoned defeat by three or four goals would be enough to bring other third-placed rivals back into contention, so considering Northern Ireland could have easily been looking at such a scoreline at half-time they must have been extremely pleased to turn around just a goal down.
“We had a lot of chances, and it is always hard work if you don’t take them,” the Germany coach, Joachim Löw, said. “We knew Northern Ireland would fight for everything and defend with six players, and that’s what they did. We had 80% of ball possession, we should have found more solutions, but we didn’t concede any goals or stupid fouls so I am satisfied.”
McGovern did well to prevent Götze, Sami Khedira and Gomez extending the lead at the start of the second half, before O’Neill sent Kyle Lafferty on for the last half-hour and switched the formation to what might be termed a flat back six. Theoretically a goal at Neuer’s end might have brought Northern Ireland’s best result for decades, though in the context of the game and the competition it was probably wisest to keep things tight at the back. Just when it looked as though Germany were content to sit the rest of the game out, Özil and Joshua Kimmich fashioned another opening, from which Gomez brought yet another fine save from McGovern.
O’Neill revealed that his goalkeeper received a round of applause from the rest of the squad on reaching the dressing room. “When that happens the manager doesn’t need to say much,” he added. “Michael has been fantastic for us, but we all know what he is capable of. He plays for Hamilton Academical [actually he is out of contract and looking for a new club] so he makes a lot of saves every week.”
As 1-0 defeats go, this must be the most satisfying in Northern Ireland’s history.
“I’ve never seen a team so happy with a 1-0 defeat,” Götze said afterwards. For the massed ranks of green-shirted Northern Ireland fans who stayed well beyond the final whistle at the Parc des Princes, the party goes on and there will be another chance, almost certainly against France or Wales, to sing themselves horse in jubilation.
Guardian
