Northern Ireland manager Michael O’Neill believes he has identified a number of areas where they can hurt world champions Germany in their final Group C game in Paris tonight.
O’Neill’s team come into this game on a high after the 2-0 win over Ukraine on Thursday night, which secured third place in their group.
Another famous win at the Parc des Princes would see them safely through to the knockout stages.
"It’s about choosing the right time to put pressure on the ball and knowing when to fill in the gaps and pick their pockets" - Steven Davis
It looks likely that a point would also be enough to secure one of the four places on offer for the best third-placed teams, while they could even go through with just the three points they picked up against Ukraine.
O’Neill said he had spotted a number of flaws in the German set-up during his extensive analysis of their recent games, and while he certainly wasn’t going to announce those to the media, he did point to the number of chances that both Poland and Ukraine created in their group games against Germany.
“We believe that we can hurt Germany,” he stated at his pre-match press conference.
“We have proven in the past that we are a good counter-attacking team and that’s what we have to be if we are to create opportunities from the level of possession that we anticipate having. No team is flawless. I think Germany have proven that they have flaws as well.
“There has been a little bit of change in their squad from two years ago so there are opportunities there for us to exploit. It’s up to us that with whatever possession we have in the game that we maximise that to create opportunities because I believe that we will get opportunities in the game.”
Although O’Neill isn’t one to get too carried away about the importance of set-pieces, it is an area that offers Northern Ireland some hope of causing a major upset. Seven of their last 10 competitive goals have come from that route, including Gareth McAuley’s header from a Oliver Norwood free-kick against Ukraine.
While the manager was never going to reveal his game plan to the media on the eve of the match, he is preparing his squad to do a lot of work off the ball. Therefore, we can probably expect to see the same experienced back four of McAuley, Aaron Hughes, Craig Cathcart and Jonny Evans in front of Michael McGovern.
Germany will dominate possession so O’Neill could choose to pack the midfield and go with five men across the park. It may mean sacrificing one of the wingers that played against Ukraine, Stuart Dallas and Jamie Ward, in favour of a more-defensive minded midfielder.
O’Neill was full of praise for Conor Washington’s performance in the lone striking role against Ukraine so it would be a difficult decision to leave him out in favour of Kyle Lafferty, who played that position in the opening defeat to Poland.
Captain Steven Davis, who praised the manager’s attention to detail in studying the opposition, will once again lead from the centre of midfield. He’s preparing for another busy night in there and admitted that he and his team-mates may have to raise their game even further to get a result.
"We’re in a very good place after the game against Ukraine the other night, but I don’t think we’re under any illusions about how difficult the game is going to be" - Steven Davis
He said: “We’re in a very good place after the game against Ukraine the other night, but I don’t think we’re under any illusions about how difficult the game is going to be.
“They have got a lot of quality and we’re going to have to, if not reach the levels against Ukraine, then surpass them. But we’re confident going into the game that we’re in third position in the group with all to play for so everybody is really looking forward to it.
“They have got a lot of quality and a lot of rotation in midfield so it will be a big test for us. We know we’re not going to be dominating possession.
“It’s about choosing the right time to put pressure on the ball and knowing when to fill in the gaps and pick their pockets. Going against the ball is something we do really well, but we need to go and show that again tomorrow night.”
Germany, who need a win to top the group, will make a number of changes from the side that drew 0-0 with Poland at the Stade de France last week.
Jerome Boateng, Mesut Ozil and Sami Khedira are carrying yellow cards, so could be rested, while there are concerns about the form of Mario Gotze and Thomas Muller, with striker Mario Gomez tipped to return to the starting line-up.
Assistant coach Thomas Schneider took yesterday’s press conference in place of Joachim Low, who was nursing a sore throat and a head cold. He confirmed that there would be changes to the team to keep players fresh for the latter stages of the tournament.
Both Schneider and defender Mats Hummels said they weren’t too familiar with the Northern Ireland players, but would give them their full respect and know their strengths and weaknesses by the time kick-off came around.
“I think it’s not important what they were doing four years ago,” said Schneider in response to a question about the fact that Washington was working as a postman during Euro 2012.
“We respect them now. They had a good qualifying and ended their group as winners. They have beaten Ukraine and we know what we will face.”
O’Neill said yesterday that he enjoys testing himself against the top managers in the game and will hope Low recovers to take his place in the dugout.
He’s clearly very happy in his job, having just signed a new four-year contract, but it may be very difficult for the IFA to keep him if he masterminds another memorable performance tonight.
Regardless of what happens later, his team can take plenty of positives from the tournament experience, and not just on the pitch.
Their demeanour has won them many friends around their base near Lyon, while one local journalist claimed yesterday that they are now seen by many French people as their second favourite team.
More importantly, as O’Neill stressed, they have also helped to unite an often divided society in Northern Ireland and heal the sadness at the loss of two supporters, Darren Rodgers and Robert Rainey, who travelled to France to see the team in action and never returned home.
The team will wear black armbands in memory of Mr Rainey tonight, having made a similar gesture for Mr Rodgers during the win over Ukraine.
