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Germany national football team
Euro Champ Qualifying | Group Stage
Nov 19, 2019 at 7.45pm UK
 
Northern Ireland national football team

6-1

Gnabry (19', 47', 60'), Goretzka (43', 73'), Brandt (91')
FT(HT: 2-1)
Smith (7')

Michael O'Neill: 'NI need fully-fit squad to qualify for Euro 2020'

Michael O'Neill: 'NI need fully-fit squad to qualify for Euro 2020'
© Reuters
Northern Ireland must negotiate the play-offs if they are to qualify for Euro 2020.

Michael O'Neill has warned that Northern Ireland must have their key players available next March if they are to get past Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Euro 2020 qualifying play-offs.

An illness for Jonny Evans and injury to Jamal Lewis left Northern Ireland short-handed against Germany in Frankfurt on Tuesday and it duly turned into a punishing night as they lost their final Group C fixture 6-1, with Serge Gnabry bagging a hat-trick for the hosts.

While that was taking place, Wales' 2-0 win over Hungary confirmed Northern Ireland's remaining path to Euro 2020 will go through Bosnia.

O'Neill will be grateful that nothing as difficult as a trip to Germany lies in store, but Bosnia beat Northern Ireland home and away in the Nations League last year and cannot be taken lightly.

"If we have a full squad I believe we can beat Bosnia come March," said O'Neill, who plans to remain in charge for the fixture alongside his new duties as Stoke boss.

"If we're five or six players down it's very difficult to progress to the finals, it's as simple as that.

"We have a 25-man squad and we don't really have players outside of that.

"To get past Bosnia we will have to keep (Edin) Dzeko and (Miralem) Pjanic quiet as they are key to their performance."

Though Bosnia got the better of his side last year, O'Neill is confident a fully-fit Northern Ireland squad is much better equipped to deal with the threat this time around.

They were picked off on the counter-attack in a 2-1 defeat at Windsor Park, despite dominating possession and creating a string of chances, while Northern Ireland hit the post three times in a 2-0 defeat in Sarajevo.

Both matches came early in a process of O'Neill refreshing his squad following the 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign and a transition to a more possession-based approach going forward.

Since then the likes of Lewis and Bailey Peacock-Farrell have established themselves as key players and, after four straight losses in the Nations League, results improved considerably with four wins and a draw from their eight Euro 2020 qualifiers.

Arguably the results do not tell the full story as they led against Holland in Rotterdam until the 80th minute and only lost to two stoppage-time goals, missed a penalty as the reverse fixture finished 0-0 in Belfast, and even had a brief early lead in Frankfurt thanks to Michael Smith's strike.

"Overall this has been a good campaign for us," O'Neill said. "Thirteen points, there's no shame in that in a group with Germany and Holland. For many of our players this is their first campaign and they can only learn from nights like this.

"The players will learn both from the Nations League campaign and this campaign and the new players we have introduced have certainly been developing.

"But when you get to the play-off it's not about style of play, it's about getting through, it's as simple as that."

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Germany's Serge Gnabry celebrates scoring their third goal with teammates on November 19, 2019
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Group A

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Spain Spain870121
Q Scotland flag Scotland852117
3 Norway Norway832311
4 Georgia Georgia82248
5 Cyprus Cyprus80080

Group B

TeamPWDLPTS
Q France France871022
Q Netherlands Netherlands860218
3 Greece Greece841313
4 Ireland Rep. Ireland82066
5 Gibraltar flag Gibraltar80080

Group C

TeamPWDLPTS
Q England flag England862020
Q Italy Italy842214
3 Ukraine Ukraine842214
4 Macedonia N. Macedonia82248
5 Malta flag Malta80080

Group D

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Turkey Turkey852117
Q Croatia Croatia851216
3 Wales flag Wales833212
4 Armenia Armenia82248
5 Latvia Latvia81073

Group E

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Albania national flag Albania843115
Q Czech Republic Czech Republic843115
3 Poland Poland832311
4 Republic of Moldova Moldova824210
5 Faroe Islands Faroe Islands80262

Group F

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Belgium Belgium862020
Q Austria Austria861119
3 Sweden Sweden831410
4 Azerbaijan Azerbaijan82157
5 Estonia Estonia80171

Group G

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Hungary Hungary853018
Q Serbia Serbia842214
3 Montenegro Montenegro832311
4 Lithuania Lithuania81346
5 Bulgaria Bulgaria80444

Group H

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Denmark Denmark1071222
Q Slovenia Slovenia1071222
3 Finland Finland1060418
4 Kazakhstan Kazakhstan1060418
5 Northern Ireland flag N. Ireland103079
6 San Marino flag San Marino1000100

Group I

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Romania Romania1064022
Q Switzerland Switzerland1045117
3 Israel Israel1043315
4 Belarus Belarus1033412
5 Kosovo flag Kosovo1025311
6 Andorra flag Andorra100282

Group J

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Portugal Portugal10100030
Q Slovakia Slovakia1071222
3 Luxembourg flag Luxembourg1052317
4 Iceland Iceland1031610
5 Bosnia Bosnia H'vina103079
6 Liechtenstein flag Liechtenstein1000100

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