a 2-0 win over previous group leaders Slovakia.<\/a><\/p>\nGermany moved into that position with a 4-0 home win over a Luxembourg side reduced to 10 men after 20 minutes.<\/p>\n
Julian Nagelsmann\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
Eleven matches since then have resulted in 11 defeats for Northern Ireland, by a cumulative 31 goals to five.<\/p>\n
However, the 3-1 scoreline in Cologne last month was harsh on the visitors, so both O\u2019Neill and Hume feel they can take at least a point tonight \u2013 although they emphasised how hard that would be to achieve:<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to believe anything is possible really,\u201d said Hume. \u201cIf you don\u2019t believe, then you\u2019re not going to be able to do it. Do you know what I mean?<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we know how strong Germany are. We know that from Cologne when they won 3-1.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were in the game for a large part of it. But at that level, if you make mistakes or if you slow down, you\u2019ll get punished for it. So we know the challenge that we face.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Northern](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/5WXU2RRBLBFITIWMUD4DT3MDYU.jpg\")
Northern Ireland senior men’s manager Michael O\u2019Neill.
\nPhoto – Andrew McCarroll\/ Pacemaker Press (Andrew McCarroll\/Andrew McCarroll\/ Pacemaker Pres) <\/p>\n
O\u2019Neill stressed that the venue will be a factor:<\/p>\n
\u201cHome form is everything.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very difficult to win on the road in international football. Making sure we\u2019re good at home is essential to giving ourselves a chance to be competitive.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got a chance to get a big result and hopefully we take that.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve looked at Germany in great depth. We know that when they\u2019re good, they\u2019re very good. But we also believe there are areas where we can hurt them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe team will be well prepared to hopefully do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Indeed O\u2019Neill acknowledged that the team\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019ve 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\u2019s still so much room for growth in this group of players.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is such a great test for them and it\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
O\u2019Neill did play down the fact that he\u2019s heading into his 100th senior match in charge, and also tried to reduce the significance of this contest:<\/p>\n
\u2018Game four of six\u2019 isn\u2019t the most rousing rallying cry before a big game, but that was how the boss categorised it.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s true that the concluding matches next month against Slovakia and Luxembourg may have a greater bearing on NI\u2019s final position.<\/p>\n
If O\u2019Neill is to follow Billy Bingham, the man who gave him his international debut at 18 \u2013 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.<\/p>\n
![\"Northern](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/MMG56OXALVFRBAXBHXEDVYLYXY.JPG\")
Northern Ireland\u2019s Brodie Spencer during Sunday\u2019s training session at the Clearer Twist Stadium at Windsor Park, ahead of Monday night\u2019s FIFA World Cup qualifier against Germany.
\n Photo William Cherry\/Presseye (William Cherry\/Presseye\/William Cherry\/Presseye) <\/p>\n
Bradley\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Neill pointed out that, the major name of Liverpool\u2019s Bradley apart, NI are actually almost at full-strength:<\/p>\n
\u201cLook, we\u2019ve dealt with injuries in the previous camp. We definitely had players missing from the games in September that would have started. Maybe that\u2019s less so now.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re as close, I think, to possibly our strongest 14 or 15 players that we have at this minute in time in terms of starting.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Northern](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/LNXXIZKLOJDJFDNZBYLDAJGTIQ.JPG\")
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) <\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Neill makes a virtue of his small pick, saying: \u201cSometimes when you\u2019ve got limited choice in terms of numbers you get consistency just through the fact that you have limited choice.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhereas I think Germany have changed system a little bit. They\u2019ve got more choices in terms of personnel.<\/p>\n
![\"Florian](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/UVCHF3NRSNK75NS2656MIVAOVA.jpg\")
Florian Wirtz celebrates scoring Germany\u2019s third (PA Wire\/PA) <\/p>\n
\u201cWhat you get, I think, with players of the level that Germany consistently pick, they\u2019re playing top level club football.<\/p>\n
\u201cComing in and playing international football, the step to an international game is not so big [for them], if there\u2019s any step at all, whereas obviously we are asking players to step up from sometimes their level of club football\u2026I think at times that showed a little bit in some moments of the game in Cologne.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, although Germany will be favourites, there\u2019s many a slip \u2018twixt cup and lip, and this youthful Northern Ireland team is capable of getting a result worth raising a glass too \u2013 whether it\u2019s half-full or half-empty\u2026<\/p>\n
Northern Ireland (probable, 4-5-1): <\/b>Peacock-Farrell; Spence, McNair, Ballard, Hume, Devenny; S Charles, McCann, Galbraith, Price; D Charles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ANY post-match celebrations remain in doubt, but Northern Ireland manager Michael O\u2019Neill insisted he wouldn\u2019t accept a guaranteed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":495372,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5310],"tags":[2000,299,1512,1824,138587,1144,2958,45880],"class_list":{"0":"post-495371","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-germany","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-fifa","11":"tag-germany","12":"tag-michael-o-neill","13":"tag-northern-ireland","14":"tag-sunderland","15":"tag-world-cup-qualifiers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115365254123696613","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=495371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495371\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/495372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=495371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=495371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=495371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Trai](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/SXN2LNDOIVH75LU77T745BQX5I.jpg\")
Trai Hume during the media conference ahead of Northern Ireland v Germany at the Clearer Twist Stadium at Windsor Park.![\"Ulster](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IAXZLD4VDNCWRFU3EE5B6ZPYPQ.JPG\")
<\/a>![\"Macclesfield](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ARNY5WKWB5OOXEOFGWL7JSZE7M.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n