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Green And White Army Continues European Conquest
I'm sorry I can't miss this opportunity to have a bit of a gloat. It came as more of a relief than anything, taking Northern Ireland as it did a full 52 minutes to break the deadlock in last night's victory over bottom-of-the-group Liechtenstein. Not only did Northern Ireland take second place in the group after Denmark were beaten 2-1 in Spain, but someone who isn't David Healy scored for Northern Ireland (it only took 8 goals!) making a good result absolutely great.
Liechtenstein | 1 | Northern Ireland | 4 |
---|---|---|---|
Burgmeier | (91) | Healy | (52, 75, 83) |
McCann | (92) | ||
Let's take a look at that table, shall we?
P | W | D | L | GD | Pts | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | Sweden | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | +6 | 12 |
2. | Northern Ireland | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | +2 | 10 |
3. | Denmark | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | +5 | 7 |
4. | Spain | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | +2 | 6 |
5. | Latvia | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | +2 | 3 |
6. | Iceland | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | -4 | 3 |
7. | Liechtenstein | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | -13 | 0 |
Don't think I'm deluding myself, I think most Northern Ireland fans accept that it would be nearly unthinkable for Northern Ireland to hold this position long-term, but with Denmark only playing a friendly on Wednesday night (against Germany) it means we'll be second in the table at least until June, regardless of Northern Ireland's result at Windsor Park on Wednesday against unbeaten group-leaders Sweden. It'll be a tough match, but even a point would keep the dream of qualification alive. The question is do we dare to dream?