Northern Ireland Through Despite Germany Defeat
“(Aaron) Hughes had 102 caps, he’s not played a lot of football, he’s come in and had two awesome performances for us.
“The goals were lacking”.
They will be hoping their goal difference of zero, will be enough to secure a place in the Round of 16.
If Northern Ireland go through, they can thank their goalkeeper and the various body parts which kept out efforts from Thomas Muller, Mario Gotze and Mario Gomez. “Playing at this level is something I relish and I love it at Hamilton”.
According to UEFA, the only way Northern Ireland would ever have faced the victor of Group B, in this instance Wales, was if the third-placed teams in Group A and Group D both failed to claim one of the four berths available.
The 31-year-old pulled off save after save on Tuesday to frustrate the world champions, and though Mario Gomez found a way past him in the 30th minute, McGovern’s electric reflexes ensured the score remained just 1-0.
“We had more chances than in the last eight games”.
With a potential quarter-final against Italy or title holders Spain looming, defender Mat Hummels said Germany can not afford to be so wasteful as the tournament progresses.
They finished third in the group, but their 2-0 win over Ukraine last week puts them in a strong position to go through as one of the four best third-place teams in what is their first European Championship finals.
“Their team sheet is full of players from Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Barcelona and we certainly don’t have that”.
Much of Northern Ireland’s squad is sourced from the Championship or Scotland, but their back four contains Premier League regulars Jonny Evans, Gareth McAuley and Craig Cathcart as well as 102-cap veteran Aaron Hughes, whose former clubs include Newcastle, Fulham and Aston Villa. And he accepted that merely being Germany heaps expectation on his team.
However, the Besiktas striker was also guilty of complacency as he too missed a glorious opportunity, fluffing a first-time shot tamely into the hands on McGovern.
“I have to compliment him”.
“I don’t have any complaints about my players today because we played football”.
Joachim Low, the head coach of Germany, gave a lot of credit to Northern Ireland: “With all due respect to Northern Ireland, who did very well in qualifying, they were always going to throw everything into this match because it’s the game of their lives”.
Earlier, O’Neill had also said that he would also relish the chance to face the hosts.