Northern Ireland v Luxembuourg (05/09/2024)

GOOD EVENING Welcome to the National Football Stadium at Windsor Park for our first senior men’s international at home in almost a year.

Since the final whistle blew here on a 2-0 win over Denmark just after 9.30pm on Monday 20 November last year we’ve been on the road, and a good road it’s been for the most part. March saw us play Romania and Scotland, two countries who had qualified for UEFA Euro 2024, just like the Danes. A draw in Bucharest and a win in Glasgow showed we were on the way back. June was more mixed as an early Dan Ballard goal gave us hope against eventual Euro winners Spain in Mallorca, however their class showed in the end as they handed us our only defeat of the year to date. We rounded June off with a slightly surreal match against Andorra in Murcia where Conor Bradley’s two goals warmed up the few supporters who had managed to make it. Tonight we kick off our fourth UEFA Nations League campaign and it’s probably time that we made a positive impact on the competition. The three previous UEFA Nations League editions have been disappointing, in particular the 2022 version where we were top seeds in our group within League C. This year in League C we face Luxembourg, who we welcome as our visitors this evening, Belarus and Bulgaria. Tomorrow we fly to Plovdiv, Bulgaria’s second largest city, to complete this month’s double header. And next month we will play the Belarus away game in Hungary; as everyone knows

Belarus are not allowed to play club or country games at home since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The UEFA Nations League has become a very important tournament since it was introduced in 2018. Not only is there the elation of possible promotion (or the agony of relegation) but Nations League placings are used to determine seeding positions for the regular UEFA European qualifiers so there is a significant impact beyond just the game on the night. While tonight we focus on the senior men’s team, we should also note that Northern Ireland staged a very successful UEFA Men’s Under-19 Euro tournament this summer. After 16 games over 14 days played at Inver Park, Seaview and here at the National Football Stadium, Spain ran out winners with a 2-0 victory over France in front of over 8,000 spectators. Our own team, led by Gareth McAuley, performed well on this big stage and certainly enhanced their reputations. Enjoy the game tonight and let’s hope we have three points on the board to take to Bulgaria.

PATRICK NELSON CHIEF EXECUTIVE IRISH FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION

IRISHFA.COM

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