And that should do for this. Cheers all for reading - have a good night.
And finally Group I, where Portugal’s injury-time winner puts them in good shape to go through. They can seal both qualification and top spot with a win over Denmark in their next game.
A little more straightforward in Group F - Ireland require two points from their remaining two games (against Greece and Finland) to secure progression. Even if they finish on the same number of points as Hungary, their superior head-to-head record means they will finish above them.
So, where does that leave us. In Group D, Scotland’s defeat means they can’t finish in the top two. They are six points behind Poland with two games left, so would need to win both of their games and hope the Republic beat Poland. However, that would mean Ireland would be on 18 points, one more than is possible for Scotland.
The Republic on the other hand now have qualification in their own hands - although that makes it sound much more simple than it is. They would have to beat Germany in Dublin then Poland in Warsaw next month to ensure progression.
Safe to say the NI supporters are happy with a draw #NIRvHUN pic.twitter.com/o98afJn5Gy
— Paul Campbell (@campbellwpaul) September 7, 2015
Full-time scores
- Northern Ireland 1-1 Hungary
- Scotland 2-3 Germany
- Republic of Ireland 1-0 Georgia
- Finland 1-0 Faroe Islands
- Poland 8-1 Gibraltar
- Romania 0-0 Greece
- Albania 0-1 Portugal (apologies - among all the madness in Belfast Miguel Veloso scored in the 92nd minute to win it for Portugal)
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Full-time: Northern Ireland 1-1 Hungary
Well, they aren’t through, but the draw ensures that they can do it next time against Greece. Remarkable stuff.
GOAL! Northern Ireland 1-1 Hungary (Lafferty 90+2)
But something does then! Incredible stuff. A corner comes over from the left, it breaks to McGinn on the edge of the box who shoots, it’s saved then Lafferty is there to snaffle the rebound, firing into the roof of the net from four yards. Incredible scenes.
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...but nothing comes of it.
Last few minutes for Northern Ireland now. They pump the ball forwards...
Quite so.
Gareth McAuley's play-acting there for Northern Ireland - and Sky glossing over it because he plays for the home team - pretty embarrassing
— Daniel Taylor (@DTguardian) September 7, 2015
GOAL! Poland 8-1 Gibraltar (Gosling 87)
They’ve got one! Jake Gosling’s got one! Lovely stuff.
And now McAuley attempts to even things up after being shoved in what we’ll generously call the ‘upper chest’ by Tamas Priskin and going down as if he’d been hit in the eye by one of the flaming arrows from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. The Hungary man is booked, but nothing more.
RED CARD! Baird sent off
Well this is curious. Chris Baird receives his marching orders for a second yellow card in slightly confusing circumstances, given that both yellows were handed out at the same time. Two separate fouls, says the ref, and it’s actually tricky to disagree with him. All going a bit wrong for Northern Ireland here.
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GOAL! Poland 8-0 Gibraltar (Kaputska 74)
Two more to go now. Some info on the Polish goalscorer here:
@NickMiller79 FYI, Kapustka translates to "little cabbage". I'd like to think that this is our twist on Chicharito.
— Tomasz Rykala (@tomaszrykala) September 7, 2015
GOAL! Northern Ireland 0-1 Hungary (Guzmics 74)
Told you. But oh man, what a calamity for McGovern, who came out to claim a free-kick from the right, seemed to have it with both hands but it slips through like he was inexpertly trying to pick up a bit of chicken in szechuan sauce with some chopsticks, and Guzmics was there to stick it home. Oh dear.
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Hungary are looking more likely to score for Northern Ireland at the moment. Kalmar fizzes over a free-kick from wide on the left that has pace, dip and swerve, and in the end McGovern did a decent job tipping it over.
GOAL! Poland 7-0 Gibraltar (Milik 72)
Will they reach double figures? Milik bags the latest one for the Poles.
GOAL! Republic of Ireland 1-0 Georgia (Walters 69)
Deadlock broken in Dublin. Jonathan Walters is the man with his name on the scoresheet, but that was all about Derby midfielder Jeff Hendrick, who danced in from the left, beat two men with some delightful shuffles then crossed low for Walters who stabbed home from about five yards.
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Woof! Quite an effort from Gera from miles out that whistled just past the post. McGovern did the goalkeeping equivalent of someone trying to style out a trip over a paving stone, trying to look all casual like with his dive but failing rather. Looked like he wouldn’t have got near that if it was a bit closer to the post.
Change ahoy for Northern Ireland - Niall McGinn is on for Corry Evans to try spicing their attack up a touch.
GOAL! Poland 6-0 Gibraltar (Błaszczykowski 59 p)
And there’s one more. Jacob Błaszczykowski slots the penalty home after Robert Lewandowski is felled, possibly by a Gibraltar player having an existential crisis.
GOAL! Poland 5-0 Gibraltar (Milik 56)
There’s one more. They’ve been quiet for a while. Arkadiusz Milik gets this one.
GOAL! Scotland 2-3 Germany (Gundogan 54)
Oh. Here.
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Germany have the ball in the net, but the lino’s flag says no Mario Goetze! No goal for you!
Chance for Hungary, as Zoltan Gera gets on the end of a swung cross from a free-kick on the left, but his header skims wide of the far post.
Close again for Northern Ireland. Another long ball into the box is knocked down by - I think - McAuley, but that one is about three inches too far in front of Lafferty who can’t get anything on to direct an effort at goal.
Northern Ireland go on the attack straight away, Brunt skimming over a free-kick from deep, which Gareth McAuley heads back into the middle from the back stick, but it’s headed behind for a corner before Jonny Evans could get there.
They’re back out for the second half. Robbie Keane has been hooked for the Republic, with Shane Long taking his place.
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Banter, from the London branch of the Northern Ireland supporters’ club
Scotland may have bagpipes but NI fans are drowning it out by chanting "you can stick your f*in goulash up your hole" pic.twitter.com/vLbE5No5p7
— Paul Campbell (@campbellwpaul) September 7, 2015
Here are some tables as they stand. There hasn’t been a great deal of change from the scores as they are, in honesty. But click here anyway. Everyone likes an As It Stands Table.
Half-time scores
- Northern Ireland 0-0 Hungary
- Scotland 2-2 Germany
- Republic of Ireland 0-0 Georgia
- Finland 1-0 Faroe Islands
- Poland 4-0 Gibraltar
- Romania 0-0 Greece
- Albania 0-0 Portugal
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As opposed to at Hampden, where it’s 2-2 at the break and quite the ripper, by the sounds of things.
Half-time at Windsor Park, and it’s 0-0. It hasn’t, to say the least, been a belter of a game so far...
“Hey Nick,” begins Cian Mulligan. “It’s perfectly googleable, but I’ll ask you anyway. Is there any benefit to qualifying by winning the group, as opposed to coming second? Seeding in the finals will be using the UEFA Coefficients, I assume...”
There doesn’t seem to be any direct benefit, given that as you say seeding is decided by the coefficients. Of course, winning the group will improve your coefficient, but it doesn’t mean that if you win the group you get a better draw or a bag of sweets or whatever.
GOAL! Scotland 2-2 Germany (McArthur 43)
Hell of a game at Hampden. Ashdown’s got it all.
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Bloody hell. Hugarian defender Leandro goes into the book for a ludicrously high boot on McLaughlin. High, as in he kicked him in the chin. Apparently he’s been booked in every qualifier he’s played in, and on this evidence it’s easy to see why.
The night wouldn’t be complete without Kiraly going walkabout, and he doesn’t disappoint by barreling out of his goal and clearing a ball down the left channel. Actually quite good keeping, in the end.
GOAL! Scotland 1-2 Germany (Muller 34)
Ah. Ashdown, details, here.
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It’s only in a friendly so won’t get the full GOAL! treatment, but get on this by Blaise Matuidi for France v Serbia.
Matuidi goal for France. Let's Blaise https://t.co/HrUhEnD1wP
— James Dart (@James_Dart) September 7, 2015
Oooof, close for Hungary. A second ball after a free-kick was half-cleared is returned into the box, and former Liverpool hero Kristian Nemeth finds himself free in the box, but keeper Michael McGovern dashes out and smothers it. Great goalkeeping, but the offside flag was up anyway.
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GOAL! Poland 4-0 Gibraltar (Lewandowski 29)
Shall I just let you know when Poland haven’t scored a goal?
GOAL! Scotland 1-1 Germany (Hummels og 28)
IT’S ON. Yer man Ashdown has it here.
Och aye the Neuer...
— Archie Rhind-Tutt (@archiert1) September 7, 2015
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Norwood has a crack with a shot that never really looked like it was going to trouble the goal, but Kiraly did however have to make something of a scrambled save down to his right.
GOAL! Finland 1-0 Faroe Islands (Pohjanpalo 23)
Another ground that could be busy, and elsewhere in Northern Ireland’s group (although neither side can qualify automatically so it doesn’t mean a great deal) Joel Pohjanpalo has given Finland the lead over the Faroes.
A sub already for Hungary, with Akos Elek limping off and Adem Nagy taking his place.
GOAL! Scotland 0-1 Germany (Muller 18)
Ah. Yes. Erm. Well. John Ashdown has the details for this one.
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GOAL! Poland 3-0 Gibraltar (Lewandowski 19)
And another! Robert Lewandowski with Poland’s third, and they go level on points with Germany as things stand. Well..for a moment...
Kyle Lafferty will miss the next game after picking up a booking for a late challenge. He attempts a desperate plea to the referee, but he was having absolutely none of that one.
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GOAL! Poland 2-0 Gibraltar (Grosicki 15)
Yep, told you. Grosicki gets another, and it’s going to be a long old night for the Gibraltar keeper. Can you think of a more thankless task than being in nets for a team as bad as them?
GOAL! Poland 1-0 Gibraltar (Grosicki 9)
We might be heading over to Warsaw quite a few times tonight, so here’s the first one - Poland have gone ahead over Gibraltar through Rennes winger Kamil Grosicki.
Half chance for the Republic at the Aviva, as Robbie Keane gets the ball at the far post, but can’t quite bring the thing under control and his shot is skewed over the bar.
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NI go close again, after Chris Brunt fizzes over an inswinging free-kick from the right and Kiraly barrels out in his trackies, punching the ball clear.
Northern Ireland try something spicy from a corner, as Oliver Norwood and Stuart Dallas try a Sheringham/Anderton corner from the right, but the Leeds man missed with his shot from the edge of the box. As it, he missed the ball completely.
First chance of the night at Windsor Park, as Balázs Dzsudzsák shoots just wide of goal from about 25 yards out, on the right of the area. A rather ambitious effort, that.
Important update from the Hungary nets - Gabor Kiraly is indeed wearing his grey trackie bottoms. He bought those from Lillywhites in 1999 and he’s getting his money’s worth.
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And we’re away at Windsor Park, Ireland kicking off and taking the rugby approach of hoying the thing straight out of touch.
Teams are emerging onto pitches, national anthems are being butchered, mascots are standing with confused looks on their faces. There is imminent football.
We’ve already had one game tonight, and it sounds like it was a barn-burner. In Group I, it ended Armenia 0-0 Denmark, which basically makes bugger all difference to that group. Nothing can be decided tonight, with Portugal and Albania still with three more games to play, including the one between those two sides later on.
Here’s how the table stands after that one:
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With Northern Ireland bidding to qualify for their first ever European Championships, here’s a Guardian Sport Network piece by Stephen Pye from November about how they came within ten minutes of making it to Euro 1984.
After Northern Ireland’s flying start to the qualification campaign of Euro 2016 a lot of references have been made to the fact that they have never qualified for the finals of the European Championship. Hearing this, my mind drifted back 30 years or so to the nearest of near things, a time when Northern Ireland defeated West Germany home and away, and came within 10 agonising minutes of joining the finalists at France 1984. An attempt at qualification so inspiring and full of pride, yet so frustrating and tinged with regret. From the highs of Hamburg to the anguish in Ankara, the story of Billy Bingham’s brave men warms the sporting soul, as the underdogs nearly pulled off the impossible.
We probably should not have been too surprised by the eventual progress made by Northern Ireland. A successful 1982 World Cup had seen the team make the second group stage, their win with 10 men over hosts Spain in Valencia the finest example of the Irish ability to punch above their weight and defy the odds.
However, it would take an upset of David versus Goliath proportions for manager Billy Bingham to lead his country to Euro 1984. Reigning European champions and 1982 World Cup finalists West Germany had been drawn in Group Six, and realistically it looked like a straight fight between Northern Ireland and Austria for the runner-up position. And as Northern Ireland would sadly discover, the so-called minnows of the group in Turkey and Albania would also provide stern tests at various stages.
Some pre-match reading? Here’s Wee Gordon Strachan being optimistic...
I’m not saying that’s the be all and end all, but I am looking for a point,” Strachan said. “I want three. But I have to pick a team in mind where I want a point but I want three as well. I don’t think anybody knows how to play for a draw. We are not saying it’s over and done with if we don’t get it, but I am more than confident we will get something from the game.
“We’ve got our frustration out in the last couple of days in training and we’ve been watching bits and bobs of video.
“We’ve got to try and get our minds set on the fact that we are playing the world champions here at Hampden, and that anything can happen. We’ve done it here before and we know we can do it again.”
Team news
Republic of Ireland v Georgia
Given, Coleman, O’Shea, Clark, Whelan, McCarthy, Brady, Hoolahan, Hendrick, Keane, Walters.
Revishvili, Lobzhanidze, Kverkvelia, Kashia, Amisulashvili, Khizanishvili, Navalovsky, Kankava, Kazaishvili, Okriashvili, Mchedlidze
Northern Ireland v Hungary
McGovern, C. McLaughlin, McAuley, J. Evans, Baird, S. Davis, Brunt, C. Evans, Dallas, Norwood, K.Lafferty
Király, Leandro, Kádár, Fiola, Guzmics, Elek, Dzsudzsák, Kalmár, Szalai, Gera, Németh
Scotland v Germany
Marshall, Hutton, Russell Martin, Hanley, Mulgrew, Maloney, McArthur, Brown, Forrest, Morrison, Steven Fletcher.
Neuer, Can, Boateng, Hummels, Hector, Schweinsteiger, Kroos, Muller, Ozil, Gundogan, Gotze
Romania v Greece
Tătăruşanu, Papp, Raţ, Chiricheş, Grigore, Hoban, Pintilii, Maxim, Torje, Keșerü, Budescu
Karnezis, Manolas, Kitsiou, Papastathopoulos, Holebas, Tziolis, Fortounis, Fetfatzidis, Aravidis, Samaris, Mitroglou
Albania v Portugal
Berisha, Djimsiti, Agolli, Arlind Ajeti, Lenjani, Cana, Kukeli, Xhaka, Abrashi, Gashi, Çikalleshi
Rui Patrício, Pepe, R. Carvalho, Eliseu, Miguel Veloso, Danny, Danilo, Bernardo Silva, Ronaldo(C), Vieirinha
Finland v Faroe Islands
Hradecky, Arajuuri, Arkivuom, Lam, Uronen, P. Hetemaj, Sparv, Halsti, Ring, Riski, Pohjanpalo
Nielsen, A. Gregersen, Nattestad, Naes, Hansson, Benjaminsen, Hendriksson, Sørensen, S. Vatnhamar, Holst, K. Olsen
Poland v Gibraltar
Fabiański, Szukała, Olkowski, Glik, Mączyński, Krychowiak, Grosicki, Rybus, Błaszczykowski, Milik, Lewandowski
J. Perez, J. Chipolina, R. Chipolina, Barnett, Garciam Walker, Gosling, Bardon, J. Coombes, L. Casciaro, J.P. Duarte
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You can follow a minute-by-minute of Scotland v Germany over here, with John Ashdown.
Preamble
The business end, then. This is when things start to get interesting. Or, if you like, when things start to get rather tedious, because the nature of this new qualification hoopla means that a few teams will inevitably secure their passage to France with a couple of games to go, thus rendering the remaining round of fixtures even more pointless. England, Iceland (about whom you can read more here) and the Czech Republic are already there, and they can be joined tonight by Germany and Northern Ireland, if results go their way.
Let us discuss the Northern Irish, though. It’s well known that they haven’t been to a major tournament since 1986, and never to the European Championships, but it’s perhaps more instructive to look at their more recent record in qualifiers, rather than go too far back through history. Last time, for example, in trying to get to the World Cup in Brazil they won just one game and finished only above Luxembourg, having drawn against that very team and lost to Azerbaijan. In Euro 2012 qualification, they fared little better, only finishing above the Faroe Islands with spirited results against Slovenia and Italy ultimately proving fruitless.
This is all to say that the improvement, going from two basically pretty desperate campaigns to the brink of qualification, is decidedly impressive. And not just qualification, either, but potentially qualification as group-winners, a significant feather in the cap for a tournament that has been accused of waving through the lesser lights with the expanded participation in the finals next year. Should they beat Hungary tonight, they would potentially have done enough to qualify in any other year, too.
“I always felt that if we could get a team on the pitch and keep it on the pitch we would be competitive, and that’s proven to be the case. In the last campaign we didn’t manage to do that,” said manager Michael O’Neill. “We had only two players who played in all 10 games – Roy Carroll and Steven Davis. Now when you look through the squad, a considerable amount of players have played seven games – Chris Baird, Oliver Norwood, Kyle Lafferty, Gareth McAuley and Steven Davis. I’ve made one change to the team in the last three games.
“Last campaign I was juggling and fitting people in. Players were injured and suspended. From that point of view, when you are competitive in the group the job becomes a bit easier. Players are desperate to be here first of all. The other pleasing aspect is that our discipline has been phenomenal. Our bookings were really high in the last campaign and we had three red cards. When you have our player pool you just can’t carry that. The players have really learned from that and we’ve seen the benefit.”
Of course, if they lose, then they’ll be dragged right back into it. A Hungary victory at Windsor Park will put them just two points behind Northern Ireland and with Romania potentially ahead of Michael O’Neill’s men too. It’s not quite must-win for them, but it’s close.
Elsewhere, Germany could complete their recovery from a rather iffy beginning to the campaign by securing qualification with a win over Scotland, while in the same group the Republic of Ireland will keep right on the heels of Poland should they beat a Georgia side that doggedly kept out Scotland last week. They won’t break into the top two as the Poles are playing Gibraltar, and it would take an act of a particularly vengeful deity for them to make a mess of that.
“I would have thought at this minute that Germany, who are the outstanding team in the group, would win the group, so it’s a fight for everything else after that and that’s fine,” said Martin O’Neill this week. “You never know, Scotland could go out with renewed determination and beat Germany. Scotland are still in it, well and truly in it. They have a better head to head than us so we have to try and stay ahead. And Poland will feel that they’ll still have something up their sleeve.”
Plenty to keep track of, then. We’ll do your level best to make sure you’re fully up to speed. Stay tuned.
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