ANY post-match celebrations remain in doubt, but Northern Ireland manager Michael O’Neill insisted he wouldn’t accept a guaranteed point in advance of hosting Germany.
“I’m more a glass-half-full man,” he said with a smile. “You’re clearly not.
“I wouldn’t go for that. Yes, let’s not settle for anything yet. I’ll settle for a top performance and then we’ll take whatever the result is.”
Trai Hume during the media conference ahead of Northern Ireland v Germany at the Clearer Twist Stadium at Windsor Park.
Photo – Andrew McCarroll/ Pacemaker Press (Andrew McCarroll/Andrew McCarroll/ Pacemaker Pres)
Defender Trai Hume, a contender for captain in place of the suspended Conor Bradley, concurred with that approach:
“No, you want three points. You want to win every game you play. That’s all you can ask for.”
The mood in the home camp is clearly buoyant, understandably so after Friday night’s excellent performance brought a 2-0 win over previous group leaders Slovakia.
Germany moved into that position with a 4-0 home win over a Luxembourg side reduced to 10 men after 20 minutes.
Julian Nagelsmann’s side will be expected to finish top, but NI have the belief that they can at least avoid defeat against Germany for the first time since 1996.
Eleven matches since then have resulted in 11 defeats for Northern Ireland, by a cumulative 31 goals to five.
However, the 3-1 scoreline in Cologne last month was harsh on the visitors, so both O’Neill and Hume feel they can take at least a point tonight – although they emphasised how hard that would be to achieve:
“You have to believe anything is possible really,” said Hume. “If you don’t believe, then you’re not going to be able to do it. Do you know what I mean?
“But we know how strong Germany are. We know that from Cologne when they won 3-1.
“We were in the game for a large part of it. But at that level, if you make mistakes or if you slow down, you’ll get punished for it. So we know the challenge that we face.”
Northern Ireland senior men’s manager Michael O’Neill.
Photo – Andrew McCarroll/ Pacemaker Press (Andrew McCarroll/Andrew McCarroll/ Pacemaker Pres)
O’Neill stressed that the venue will be a factor:
“Home form is everything.
“It’s very difficult to win on the road in international football. Making sure we’re good at home is essential to giving ourselves a chance to be competitive.
“We’ve got a chance to get a big result and hopefully we take that.
“We’ve looked at Germany in great depth. We know that when they’re good, they’re very good. But we also believe there are areas where we can hurt them.
“The team will be well prepared to hopefully do that.”
Indeed O’Neill acknowledged that the team’s progress has surprised him somewhat, given the re-building job required due to the retirements of stalwarts such as record-breaking captain Steven Davis, defenders Jonny Evans and Craig Cathcart, and the versatile Stuart Dallas.
“I think we’ve probably got there a little bit quicker than maybe envisaged [when he took the job on again]… But the most important thing is that there’s still so much room for growth in this group of players.
“This is such a great test for them and it’s a game they should really look forward to and cherish to be involved in and have a real positive attitude in terms of how we approach the game.”
O’Neill did play down the fact that he’s heading into his 100th senior match in charge, and also tried to reduce the significance of this contest:
‘Game four of six’ isn’t the most rousing rallying cry before a big game, but that was how the boss categorised it.
It’s true that the concluding matches next month against Slovakia and Luxembourg may have a greater bearing on NI’s final position.
If O’Neill is to follow Billy Bingham, the man who gave him his international debut at 18 – by reaching two tournament finals as a manager, a first win over Germany (or West Germany, as was) since 1983 would certainly be immensely helpful, though.
Northern Ireland’s Brodie Spencer during Sunday’s training session at the Clearer Twist Stadium at Windsor Park, ahead of Monday night’s FIFA World Cup qualifier against Germany.
Photo William Cherry/Presseye (William Cherry/Presseye/William Cherry/Presseye)
Bradley’s absence is a definite blow, but Brodie Spencer would be a solid stand-in at right wing-back, having previously acquitted himself well out of position on the left flank.
O’Neill pointed out that, the major name of Liverpool’s Bradley apart, NI are actually almost at full-strength:
“Look, we’ve dealt with injuries in the previous camp. We definitely had players missing from the games in September that would have started. Maybe that’s less so now.
“We’re as close, I think, to possibly our strongest 14 or 15 players that we have at this minute in time in terms of starting.”
Northern Ireland held out for nearly 70 minutes before Germany found their feet and fired two goals past Peacock-Farrell to all but secure the win. (William Cherry/Presseye/William Cherry/Presseye)
Nagelsmann was able to rest some players, try others out, in that comfortable home win over their northern neighbours Luxembourg, which may help them in this second part of the international double-header.
However, NI have a more settled side, even if there may be at least one more change in personnel. Up front, Dion Charles could come in at centre-forward for Jamie Reid, who snatched and sliced at one great chance on Friday night and was then offside when he touched in a seemingly goal-bound effort by Shea Charles.
O’Neill makes a virtue of his small pick, saying: “Sometimes when you’ve got limited choice in terms of numbers you get consistency just through the fact that you have limited choice.
“Whereas I think Germany have changed system a little bit. They’ve got more choices in terms of personnel.
Florian Wirtz celebrates scoring Germany’s third (PA Wire/PA)
“What you get, I think, with players of the level that Germany consistently pick, they’re playing top level club football.
“Coming in and playing international football, the step to an international game is not so big [for them], if there’s any step at all, whereas obviously we are asking players to step up from sometimes their level of club football…I think at times that showed a little bit in some moments of the game in Cologne.”
Still, although Germany will be favourites, there’s many a slip ‘twixt cup and lip, and this youthful Northern Ireland team is capable of getting a result worth raising a glass too – whether it’s half-full or half-empty…
Northern Ireland (probable, 4-5-1): Peacock-Farrell; Spence, McNair, Ballard, Hume, Devenny; S Charles, McCann, Galbraith, Price; D Charles.