Five changes in personnel, including top scorer Kyle Lafferty being dropped, meant half the outfield XI was different from the first game, a disappointing defeat to Poland, raised eyebrows before the match, as did the tweaks O’Neill made to his tried and tested formation.
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“They do what they are good at, they defend and wait for chances on the counter-attack and that is what we expected before the tournament, that the teams will fight for everything”.
Germany finish their group campaign against Northern Ireland, who recorded their first European Championship win – 2-0 against Ukraine – earlier on Thursday. “We have talked about leaving a legacy in this tournament and hopefully we can get to major tournaments more often”, McAuley told a news conference.
A draw against Northern Ireland would be enough for Germany to qualify for the round of 16 from Group C. Germany, with four points, leads Poland on goal difference.
Northern Ireland striker Josh Magennis insists his side believe they can beat world champions Germany in their final Euro 2016 Group C game.
“We have talked about leaving a legacy and hopefully we can produce more players from Northern Ireland who can get players to these tournament”.
“It’s special [to score] – it’ll sink in probably over the next few days”.
“We did so much work leading into the first game, the work we did was of a really high quality, the players took it on board”, he added.
The Football Association Ireland sent their condolences to everyone involved in Northern Irish football after a tragic week for supporters.
“We’re not a little fish out of water in this group – no way after how we played last night”. We’ve lost one out of our last 13 and we’ve six clean sheets out of seven games.
“We know what Germany are all about, and they have some of the best players in the world”, he said.
After the Poland game, many people were disappointed with the performance that the team gave as it was a game that many people thought they could get something from.
“I respect the manager’s decision but of course I’m disappointed not to play in our biggest game in 30 years”.
“I feel like we have the right preparation and if we go into it in the right way, anyone can be vulnerable”.
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Ukraine lost to both Germany and Northern Ireland 2-0 and wants to show its fans it can achieve something before heading home.
