The Northern Ireland national football team prepares to host Germany Monday at Windsor Park in Belfast. Irons head coach Martin O’Neill prepared for the encounter by reviewing the tape of the time the two countries met in Köln back in September. O’Neill and his team haven’t forgotten the way in which German head coach Julian Nagelsmann disrespected them last month.
After Germany took some time to unlock the Northern Irish defense en-route to a 3-1 victory, Nagelsmann accused his guests of playing “boring and optically dull football characterized by long balls“. Famous veterans of the Northern Irish team shot back. Former Northern Irish wide man Chris Brunt, for example, noted that he didn’t know his country was under any obligation to play beautiful football for Nagelsmann.
O’Neill took his turn two days ahead of the re-match.
“Germany also played a lot of long balls,” O’Neill is quoted as saying in a BBC piece. “It’s not my job to prepare my team for the other coach coming here and beating us. It’s my job to set up my team in such a way that it’s as difficult as possible for the opponent, and that’s exactly what we’ll do again.”
The BBC piece notes that Nagelsmann’s loose lips have furnished some “extra motivation” for the hosts. The Green-Whites can actually head into Monday’s encounter feeling quite confident. Thus far in the October international break, the Norn Iron easily vanquished Slovakia; the team that beat Germany convincingly back in September.
O’Neill’s team have not lost at home in their last seven fixtures. Teams that have stumbled in Belfast include highly ranked Switzerland and Denmark. Germany themselves continue to stumble and can’t exactly declare themselves back on track despite a 4-0 home win over Luxembourg. Nagelsmann’s team were able to go up 2-0 from the penalty spot in the 21st-minute thanks to a Dirk Carlson handball penalty.
Carlson’s infraction also saw him sent off on a straight red card. Germany thus played the final 68 minutes a man up, often looking disorganized and only scoring two goals in quick succession after the restart. The hosts could only produce four goals out of 31 shots and did very little with a whopping 84 percent possession.
As Nagelsmann himself put it at a pre-match press conference ahead of the Luxembourg game, sputtering Germany “cannot afford to take any opponent lightly”. The contention in the German press remains that one more loss can and should spell the end of Nagelsmann’s coaching regime. Such an outcome could still come as early as Monday.
