For many
ardent Northern Ireland supporters Sunday 29th March is a date that cannot
come around soon enough, with the next six weeks likely to feature a number of
sleepless nights as the permutations of the potential results of that evening play
out in many a mind.
An
unbelievable start to their European Championship Qualifying campaign saw
Michael O’Neill’s side take maximum points from their opening three games, recording
famous away victories against Greece and Hungary along the way. In their final
game of 2014 the 100% start was unfortunately undone with Papp scoring two
goals late on as Romania overtook the Ulstermen and went into the break top of
the pile.
The Group F
table however continues to make pleasant reading for the Green and White Army,
with Northern Ireland sitting in second place; two points ahead of nearest
rivals Hungary and five head of fourth placed Finland. This becomes even more
captivating when one considers that under Michel Platini’s new European Championship
structure the group winners, runners-up, and the best third-placed team (with
the results against the sixth-placed team discarded) directly qualify to the
finals, while the eight remaining third-placed teams contest two-legged
play-offs to determine the last four qualifiers for the finals.
So what are
the implications of the game in March against Finland that many are tagging as
our most important in years?
Without a
doubt teams do not generally qualify midway through a campaign, so a win does
not mean we should start planning for a trip to France in 2016 just yet.
Likewise a defeat will not see our dreams and aspirations of reliving those
famous times of 1958, 1982 & 1986 put to bed yet again. However, the
following points should provide some interesting food for thought.
- If we do manage to pull off another famous Windsor victory and beat Finland we will go eight points ahead of the team we drew 3-3 against in Michael O’Neill’s third game in charge back in 2012. Such a gap will effectively rule Mixu Paatelainen’s side out of finishing ahead of us, with them then needing to win three of their last five games, with us picking up no more points in our remaining five games; three of which are at home and two away to the Faroes Islands and Finland. On the flip side however, if the unthinkable happens and we lose the Fins will be right on our tails and only two points behind.
- On the same evening Hungary take on a Greek side whose disastrous start of three defeats and a draw led to the sacking of Claudio Ranieri. With both sides now under the guidance of new managers it will be hard to call the victor of this fixture, however from an Our Wee Country perspective a draw would be perfect if combined with a victory for us over the Fins. This would send O’Neill’s men four points clear in second place and ten ahead of the Greeks, with four games to play.
- In the final game that evening a win for Romania at home against the Faroes will bring Lars Olsen’s faint hopes of qualification to an end, while a draw or victory for the men from the North Atlantic would turn the fantasy thoughts of Northern Ireland topping the group come October into a potential reality.
In typical
Northern Ireland fashion we will no doubt have a number of ups and downs
between now and the climax of the campaign, but let us hope that influential
players such as Davis, Hughes, McAuley & Lafferty grasp the opportunity of
playing in a major finals that has alluded so many of their predecessors with
both hands and lead the GAWA onto what will be undoubtedly a journey to be
remembered for generations.
Tickets for
the Finland game are already sold old, albeit with a reduced capacity due to
the ongoing re-development of Windsor, so let us hope that the fans do what
they do best and produce an atmosphere that spurs the players on, such as that when England came to town in 2005.
