Nevertheless, Poland gave Germany plenty to ponder on the counter-attack during a 0-0 draw at the Stade de France last Tuesday, and Davis is confident Northern Ireland can judiciously pick their moments to ask questions of Joachim Low’s men.
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Realistically, only a loss to Ukraine and a draw in the game between Germany and Northern Ireland will see Poland fail to qualify automatically for the next round. They are good at set-pieces and they played well.
Jamie Ward believes two of Northern Ireland’s recent defensive records could be the pillars of an historic success at the Parc des Princes.
“Obviously you respect your opponent, but you’ve got to earn respect from them, play your own game, just try and do what we do best and get in and around these players and make it hard for them”.
“It is not easy to be on the bench but I know how great my fellow goalkeepers, Lukasz Fabianski and Wojciech Szczesny, are”. The last time Northern Ireland shipped a goal in the opening period was 10 games ago during a 3-1 win in the Faroe Islands.
Zak and his father Richard are back in Northern Ireland after watching the victory in Lyon last Thursday.
“There are a lot of young guys in the team and for many, including me, it was the first major tournament. It was a good test and good experience for me”.
“One thing football taught me as a player was never to look too far ahead because disappointment is hanging around the corner”, O’Neill insisted. “But we can’t control what happens elsewhere, we just have to worry about ourselves”. And we are playing against our neighbours, Poland – it’s a derby and of course we’d like to go home with some positive emotions.
“The nice thing that this tournament has done for us after 30 years is that for players like Pat Jennings, Norman Whiteside, Jimmy Nicholl, who’s part of the back-room staff, it’s brought their achievements to the fore again”, he said.
“We have to play the next game for our honour, for the honour of the whole country”.
Germany may have a fearsome reputation as a super-efficient clinical team with a conveyor belt of talent, but O’Neill feels they are not as strong as they were when they won the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
The Marseille clash will be the the first meeting in a major tournament between the sides.
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The Republic of Ireland took four points off Germany in qualification and O’Neill said he spoke briefly to his counterpart Martin O’Neill about those games. Poland face Ukraine, who prop up the group with zero points, whilst Northern Ireland look to secure a shock top two finish and progress to the knockout rounds. Since then, he’s failed to find the net or deliver an assist in the competition in 433 minutes.
