Euro 2016: Dominant Germany snuff out N. Irish hopes

Euro 2016: Dominant Germany snuff out N. Irish hopes

Unrelenting pressure from world champions prevents any outbreak of heroics from Michael O'Neill's men


ISTANBUL (AA) – It was a big ask for Northern Ireland to reproduce against world champions Germany the performance which saw the Ulstermen beat Ukraine 2-0 in their previous Group C clash.

Despite some gritty defending, unrelenting first-half attacking from the Germans wore down the men in green and it was Joachim Low’s men who ran out eventual 1-0 winners at Paris’s Parc des Princes on Tuesday evening.

Germany piled on the pressure in the opening minutes, looking composed and assured on the ball and forcing the Northern Irish to defend in numbers.

An eighth-minute strike from Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil forced Northern Ireland ‘keeper Michael McGovern to come off his line to block down the ball, leading to a rushed counter-attack which lacked the numbers up front to pay off.

Mario Gotze forced more heroics from McGovern in the 12th minute as the Germans kept the pressure on, confining the Irish to their own half for much of the opening 45 minutes. The German trio of Ozil, Gotze and Toni Kroos continued to force Northern Ireland’s defense to work hard.

A 23rd-minute shot from Bayern Munich’s Thomas Muller narrowly scraped the outside of the left-hand post, begging further questions of Northern Ireland’s hard-working but beleaguered defense.

A swerving 26th-minute strike from Northern Ireland forced German ‘keeper Manuel Neuer to make a low dive, but this was immediately followed by another dangerous effort from Muller at the other end whose diving header caused panic among Michael O’Neill’s men.

Germany’s control and determination paid off, with Mueller eventually passing to an onrushing Mario Gomez who pounced on the ball to put the Germans 1-0 up in the 30th minute.

It could easily have been 2-0, as Muller’s 34th-minute effort came off the crossbar, forcing a corner which, when whipped in, came off the shoulder of a Northern Irish defender – prompting unsuccessful claims of handball from the assembled German attack.

After the break it was more of the same, with McGovern having to make repeated saves from a German side clearly in control.

In the 59th minute Northern Ireland brought on striker Kyle Lafferty – whose absence from the starting line-up against Ukraine was seen as major gamble by manager O’Neill.

It was some badly-needed attacking firepower for the Irish, who had been dominated by a German outfit in cruise control in the second half.

Low used the night to give several players a run out, subbing Gotze for Andre Schurrle in the 55th minute and bringing on Manchester United’ Sebastian Schweinsteiger in the 69th minute for Sami Khedira.

It ended 1-0, and Germany bagged all three points and topping Group B before heading to the knockout stages.

Here are the final standings for the Group C:

Team

P

W

D

L

GF

GA

+/-

Pts.

1

Germany

3

2

1

0

2

0

2

7

2

Poland

3

2

0

1

2

0

2

6

3

Northern Ireland

3

1

0

2

2

2

0

3

4

Ukraine

3

0

0

3

0

5

-5

0

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