Former Colorado Rapids, Stevenage and Atlanta head coach, Gary Smith will be bringing us his thoughts on the four home countries; England, Wales, the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland as the start of the tournament approaches.
In this third article, he previews Northern Ireland who qualified from a group featuring Romania, Hungary, Finland, Greece and the Faroe Islands.
Members of the London NISC enjoying their singalong
Smith on the EUROs: Northern Ireland
You could run out of superlatives in describing this achievement. Northern Ireland has a population of 1.5 million people and a league with an average attendance of 967. None of the 23 man squad still play there with the English Championship and the Scottish league providing a majority of the players.
Northern Ireland head for France and the Euros having attained their highest ever FIFA ranking at 25 and are at a major tournament for the first time in 30 years and 52 years since reaching a European Championship. Michael O’Neill and his team, which includes few house hold names, if any, are very similar in the way they have ‘cut their cloth’, as the Republic of Ireland group.
The player pool for Michael to choose from is limited, many of his players are outside the top divisions around Europe, he has relied heavily on domestic squad players, lads that are not getting regular soccer with their club teams and one of those players has come through for him and the team in a big way. There’s no Garrth Bale or Robbie Keane in this squad.
Kyle Lafferty has not played regularly for Norwich and spent 2016 out on loan to Birmingham but when it comes to his country he has more than made up for it. He scored in the first three matches in qualifying, against Hungary, the Faroe Islands and Greece. Those nine points sent the tam on its path to topping the group. His 7 goals in qualifying not only moved Kyle to second in all time goals scored for Northern Ireland but have given the team much needed ammunition to put points on the board.
Team tactics and real belief from the players have trumped regularly over super star individuals and ability. Winning the group with qualification above Hungary and Romania was a terrific achievement, an outstanding home record, unbeaten at Windsor Park and only 1 defeat on the road but more importantly winning 3 times in hostile territory.
On the back of a 12 match unbeaten run the whole organization will be at the Euros with great expectation but with Germany and Poland as formidable opponents in their group it could be a tall order to think that NI can continue their amazing form, the dream may come to an abrupt end at the group stage but they will have gained plenty of admiration along the way.
My prediction, Northern Ireland fail to reach the next stage but as they have done for sometime they give a great account of themselves on a big stage and their incredible following, known as the Green and White Army (GAWA) will add something to the tournament.
Editor’s Note:
Members of the London Northern Ireland Supporters Club has released a single ‘Making Our Way to Paris’ to the tune of “Living Next Door to Alice”.
The song is in aid of Cancer Fund For Children and is available from www.beezerrecords.com.
Also see:
Smith on the EUROs: Republic of Ireland will surprise us and qualify
Smith on EURO2016: Gareth Bale can pull Wales through the group
EURO2016
