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Northern Ireland coach O'Neill: More long balls than Germany!
After the 0-1 defeat against Germany, Northern Ireland coach O'Neill expresses hopes for World Cup qualification and is looking forward.
Northern Ireland coach O'Neill: More long balls than Germany!
After an exciting duel in World Cup qualifying, Northern Ireland suffered a narrow 0-1 defeat against Germany. This was a special moment for coach Michael O’Neill, who played his 100th game on the sidelines of the Northern Ireland national team on October 14, 2025. However, O'Neill remained optimistic and expressed his wish that the team can catch up in the coming games.
An interesting aspect of the game was the number of long balls played by both teams. O’Neill noted that Germany contributed 27 long balls, more than Northern Ireland (25). In a humorous postscript, O'Neill noted that national coach Julian Nagelsmann had previously criticized Northern Ireland for playing a lot of long balls and that this style of play was not exactly a feast for the eyes. After the game, both coaches are happy to be able to put the topic aside, as t-online.de reports.
The look forward
Despite the defeat, Northern Ireland still has a chance of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup either directly or via the play-offs. The team is currently in third place in Group A with six points, three points behind Slovakia and Germany. O'Neill is hoping for his team to win away from Slovakia and for Germany to beat Slovakia in their next game. This hope is all too understandable, because the qualification will be a tough one.
The 2026 World Cup qualification runs from 2023 to 2026 and includes 210 FIFA members, excluding Russia, which was excluded. There are 16 places available for Europe, giving UEFA the opportunity to advance to the World Cup in 12 groups of 4 or 5 teams. The draw for the groups took place on December 13, 2024 in Zurich, as Wikipedia shows.
The next steps
For Northern Ireland it is now a matter of staying focused and preparing for the upcoming games. O'Neill will have to prepare the team to make decisive use of the next matches in order to secure the desired play-off places. After all, everything can be decisive when it comes to getting into the big tournament.