Carl Frampton was on hand to wish Northern Ireland well as they continued punching above their weight to book a place at Euro 2016. Poland, with Robert Lewandowski scoring twice, drew 2-2 in Scotland, which ended Scottish hopes of qualifying, as they are cut adrift on 12.
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Albania, who lost 2-0 at home to two late goals in a politically-charged match against Serbia in the same group, could have qualified for their first ever finals with a win.
Darren Randolf was in hold of the ball and sent a long kick to striker Long, who outpaced the German defence to fire past Manuel Neuer in the Germany goal, send the Aviva into erruption.
Martin O’Neill joked that the Republic of Ireland should be handed the Euro 2016 trophy after a thrilling victory over world champions Germany.
A draw on Sunday could still see both sides qualify automatically through the ranking of third-place finishers (the top third-place finishers from group play earns an automatic berth at EURO 2016). “(Medical staff) said two or three days rest”, said Loew, whose team now need at least a point against the Georgians.
But they still had no problem taking control of the game with a few swift passing and lots of movement off the ball and had a couple of early chances, with the unmarked Jerome Boateng missing the target with a header and Ilkay Guendogan seeing his effort deflected wide. A match past year between the countries was interrupted by violence after a drone carrying a nationalist Albanian banner hovered over the pitch.
Michael O’Neill spoke of his pride at guiding Northern Ireland to their first major tournament in 30 years after a famous victory in Belfast.
“It’s a dream come true”. “It took a good game against Georgia [last month’s 1-0 win] to get us back into the group [and] we managed to beat the world champions tonight, so it is nice to go to Poland with everything to play for”.
Given the results achieved last month then it is no surprise that Low kept faith with virtually the same squad that picked up six points last month, with Bayern Leverkusen keeper Leno the only new face.
Christos Aravidis scored Greece’s consolation goal four minutes from the end by turning in a cross from the right by Vassilis Torosidis.
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Northern Ireland can become the second home nation to qualify.
