Northern Ireland v Netherlands

DID YOU KNOW?

Words Marshall Gillespie

When Shayne Lavery came on as a substitute against Germany back in September he became the 72nd Linfield player to win a senior international cap for Ireland/Northern Ireland since 1882. In total Linfield players have made 350 appearances and scored 38 goals for the national team. The last international goal scored by a Blues player was from Peter Thompson in a 4-1 friendly win over Georgia at Windsor Park in March 2008.

Tonight will be our eighth full international meeting with the Netherlands and only our third ever encounter with the Dutch in Belfast. Northern Ireland’s only victory over the Oranje to date came in one of those contests at Windsor Park when goals from Johnny Crossan and Terry Neill gave us a 2-1 win in a World Cup qualifier on St Patrick’s Day 1965. Northern Ireland’s full record against this evening’s opponents is: P W D L F A 7 1 2 4 5 17

Steven Davis has played more games in the European Championship (both in qualifying and Finals matches) than any other Northern Ireland player. If, as expected, he turns out tonight against the Netherlands it will be his 40th appearance in the competition. The top four players with the most appearances in the European Championship to date are: Steve Davis 39

Not surprisingly Steven Davis has won more full international caps during Michael O’Neill’s reign as manager than any other player. Sixty-four of Davis’s 115 caps to date have been won since O’Neill officially took over the job in February 2012. Players with most appearances under Michael O’Neill are: Steven Davis 64 Jonny Evans 55 Ollie Norwood 52 Kyle Lafferty 45 Josh Magennis 45 Gareth McAuley 45

Aaron Hughes Chris Baird Kyle Lafferty

35 33 31

Northern Ireland have scored a total of 130 goals in their 120 games in the European Championship (including the games at EURO 2016). Seventy-five of those goals have come at Windsor Park, 47 away from Belfast, while eight have been scored at neutral venues. David Healy is, of course, our all-time top goalscorer in the competition with 13 in 29 games, while current Sarpsborg striker Kyle Lafferty lies in second spot with 10 goals in 31 outings.

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