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Northern Ireland's Michael O'Neill laments "hugely frustrating" defeat

O'Neill laments defeat
© PA Photos
Michael O'Neill admits that he is "hugely frustrated" with Northern Ireland's performance against Israel in Belfast.

Northern Ireland coach Michael O'Neill has expressed his disappointment at his side's defeat to Israel in their World Cup qualifier on Tuesday.

Late goals from Lior Refaelov and Eden Ben Basat saw O'Neill's team lose the Group F encounter 2-0 at Windsor Park in Belfast.

"It's hugely disappointing, hugely frustrating," Sky Sports News quotes O'Neill as saying. "I felt we controlled large portions of the game again, certainly in the first half I thought some of our play was excellent, we created some good chances which we didn't take and we were punished twice on the counter-attack towards the end.

"Again we make life difficult for ourselves to be honest. It's just a case of when we've been in a strong position in games, when we've dominated possession, we've never capitalised on that.

"We've missed chances at important parts of the game and ultimately we've been punished when we've given the other team a bit of initiative. We have to start winning games, we have to get a winning mentality into this group of players."

Northern Ireland are now fourth in the group with three points from five matches.

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Group A

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Netherlands Netherlands32107
Q Senegal flag Senegal32016
3 Ecuador flag Ecuador31114
4 Qatar Qatar30030

Group B

TeamPWDLPTS
Q England flag England32107
Q United States USA31205
3 Iran Iran31023
4 Wales flag Wales30121

Group C

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Argentina Argentina32016
Q Poland Poland31114
3 Mexico Mexico31114
4 Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia31023

Group D

TeamPWDLPTS
Q France France32016
Q Australia Australia32016
3 Tunisia Tunisia31114
4 Denmark Denmark30121

Group E

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Japan Japan32016
Q Spain Spain31114
3 Germany Germany31114
4 Costa Rica flag Costa Rica31023

Group F

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Morocco Morocco32107
Q Croatia Croatia31205
3 Belgium Belgium31114
4 Canada Canada30030

Group G

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Brazil Brazil32016
Q Switzerland Switzerland32016
3 Cameroon flag Cameroon31114
4 Serbia Serbia30121

Group H

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Portugal Portugal32016
Q Republic of Korea South Korea31114
3 Uruguay flag Uruguay31114
4 Ghana flag Ghana31023


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