The first big chance arrived after just eight minutes when Mesut Ozil chipped an astute pass into Thomas Muller, but the attacker was thwarted by a big save from McGovern.
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Asked whether he would rather face Wales or France, O’Neill added: “If I was picking a team I thought we had a better chance against I would say Wales, but we’ll see who comes out after the final group games on Wednesday”.
“He was close and I’m sure he’ll score in the next match”.
They mightn’t have got the result they wanted against world champions Germany this evening – a 1-0 defeat – but tonight’s results in Group D have guaranteed our northern neighbours’ progression into the last-16 of the European Championship.
And Michael O’Neill has responded to critics who dislike the way the side plays by saying: “If people are upset by how we play, I don’t care”.
The four best third-placed teams qualify. “That was the job today and I planned to fight against those two oxen, the Northern Irish centre-backs”.
Conte said “we’re not taking the match lightly by any means”, but hinted he planned to rest several key players ahead of the last 16.
“We’re a very small nation with a very small group of players”.
“I’ve spoken to a few of them on the phone and they were absolutely ecstatic”.
Reflecting on Tuesday’s game, McGovern said: “I was busy, but it was mentally very hard”.
“We need to get this killer instinct to really score and then we can go far”.
The fans are magnificent, the songs are magnificent and hopefully they’ll be singing at the weekend too.
“But we’re just happy we’re in the next round and we’re going to be here a bit longer”.
All Northern Ireland offered in response was a Jamie Ward shot that went straight at Manuel Neuer, but their green-clad fans remained unbowed, volubly belting out their famous ode to flaming striker Will Grigg. But coach Martin O’Neill believes his team has the confidence to finally do it again, especially with its 1-0 win over Germany in a Euro 2016 qualifier previous year at the back of its mind.
The players will take an bad lot from the performance.
Goetze looked harmless in both those matches, Germany’s goals coming from defender Shkodran Mustafi and substitute midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger. It’s not in my nature to set the team up to lose 7-0. “He’s had a fantastic tournament”.
While the teams were not allowed to train on it, Conte called the playing surface “definitely not suitable for a European Championship match”.
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Only time will tell if [the result] is good enough to get us through the group, but we’re immensely proud.
