With that, I’m going to sign off. I leave you with Andy Hunter’s match report, and we’ll have further updates from the Stade de Lyon on the site when we get them. Until then, bye!
We are receiving reports that a Northern Ireland supporter – presumably the one mentioned by Andy Hunter back in the 70th minute – has died in the stadium.
Meanwhile at the Stade de France, Germany are preparing to play Poland. Follow the build-up with Paul Doyle here:
It’s not a tournament to be turning off early.
#EURO2016 Goals in injury time:
— MisterChip (English) (@MisterChiping) June 16, 2016
1-Berezutski: 90+2
2-Schweinsteiger: 90+2
3-Pelle: 90+2
4-Payet: 90+6
5-Sturridge: 90+1
6-McGinn: 90+6
That was absolutely no fluke. Ukraine were the weaker side and created nothing of note. Northern Ireland’s opener was the product of a beautiful delivery and a fantastic, monster of a header. Their second was the embodiment of optimism and daring, as the refusal to let the match die out with 30 seconds of time-wasting at the corner flag was tremendously and deservedly rewarded.
Updated
Here’s our updated online wallchart:
So Northern Ireland can finish no lower than third in their group, and a draw in their final game will surely be enough to see them progress. Gareth McAuley speaks to ITV:
Nobody’s given us a chance. Loads of people were saying we couldn’t get a point. We weren’t at it against Poland but tonight was a lot better. We’re delighted for everyone and these supporters. It’ll sink in over the next few days, but the team performance was pleasing tonight. We’ve got a tough game to look forward to, but we’ve got something to play for and that’s what we wanted. We let ourselves down against Poland but we put it right.
You know, it’s pleasing. It’s good. Tough game ahead, but we’re delighted. The lads will take confidence in it, because we’ve been written off, really.
What he said.
Brilliant from Northern Ireland. No stand out individuals but such a brilliant team ethic + togetherness. Helping each other all over pitch
— Danny Higginbotham (@Higginbotham05) June 16, 2016
History is made as Northern Ireland win their first ever game at a European Championship final.
Yesssssss #GetIn! 🙌🏼 #DareToDream #GAWA pic.twitter.com/o019aKLuLK
— Northern Ireland (@NorthernIreland) June 16, 2016
1982 - #NIR have won their first game at a major tournament since beating Spain in the 1982 World Cup. Memories. pic.twitter.com/xR0ap0AVdH
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) June 16, 2016
Final score: Ukraine 0-2 Northern Ireland
90+7 mins: And that’s it!
GOAL! Ukraine 0-2 Northern Ireland (McGinn, 90+6 mins)
The winner! Magennis sets it up, convincing the defence that he only wants to waste time on the wing and then skipping past them, getting to the byline and pulling back to McGinn. He dummies it, letting the ball roll to the edge of the area where a shot comes in. Pyatov palms it out, McGinn seizes upon it and slams the ball home!
Updated
90+5 mins: Konoplyanka gets to the byline, but skews his cross straight out of play for a goal kick. There’s about 45 seconds to go.
90+5 mins: Jonny Evans is booked for kicking the ball away after that free kick was awarded.
90+4 mins: Two minutes to go. Ukraine are pressured into going back to the keeper again, and when his long kick comes to ground, a Northern Ireland player is shoved and they have another free kick.
90+3 mins: Northern Ireland finally make that final substitution and it was, as originally advertised, Corry Evans off, Paddy McNair on.
90+3 mins: Norwood clears the ball, kicks a Ukrainian in the follow-through and falls over, winning a free kick. And so, the onslaught (possibly) ends.
90+2 mins: And so, the onslaught begins. Stepanenko lofts the ball into the area, and McGovern comes a long way to punch the ball away.
Updated
90+1 mins: We’re into stoppage time – and there’s going to be at least six minutes of it! I guess that a hail-based stoppage and some substitution-related madness will do that.
90 mins: A low cross comes to Zinchenko inside the penalty area, and he randomly decides to backheel-flick it away from goal and vaguely towards Konoplyanka. He’d surely have been better off shooting himself there!
89 mins: Save! Yarmolenko cuts in from the right and slams a shot low towards the near post from 25 yards, and McGovern gets down well to push the ball away.
88 mins: Dallas gets booked, presumably because the referee felt the need to blame someone for that time-wasting.
@Simon_Burnton Ben Fitzpatrick reminds me of Joe Royle describing a static defence conceding a goal as "Terracotta Army" defending.
— fharkin (@fharkin) June 16, 2016
Isn’t that quite good commentary, though?
85 mins: Confusion! It looks like Northern Ireland are making their last substitution. Paddy McNair is on the touchline and Corry Evans’s number goes up, but he insists it should be Dallas coming off, and there’s a prolonged debate while they decide who should go off and who should come on, which ends with Dallas trying to come off and being forcibly shoved back onto the pitch by Michael O’Neill, and in the end no substitution being made at all.
Updated
84 mins: Zinchenko’s first touch involves turning a left-wing cross towards goal, but he gets little power on it and McGovern catches.
83 mins: Shevchuk’s driven cross is blocked, going out for a throw-in, and Ukraine bring Olexandr Zinchenko on for Kovalenko. Northern Ireland also make a change, bringing Josh Magennis on and taking Conor Washington off.
Updated
82 mins: Ukraine try to play in Garmash but he’s no match for Evans, who gets in front of him, holds him off and allows McGovern to collect.
Updated
79 mins: Ukraine are yet to mount the kind of convincing, sustained attack that makes a defending side go weak at the knees. Ireland are getting back in numbers but aren’t just staying there, and as I write they’re pressing Ukraine in their own half, and forcing them to go back to Pyatov in goal. “Kama Sutra defending?” wonders Justin Kavanagh. “Isn’t that what Chris Smalling indulges in every time England defend a set-piece and he has to be dissuaded by the ref from actually climbing inside his opponent’s shorts?”
77 mins: Ukraine bring Denys Garmash on for Sydorchuk, and a few moments later Kovalenko lashes a shot wide from 20 yards.
75 mins: Ukraine attack, and Northern Ireland have 10 players in their penalty area as they try to see them off. The eventual cross bounces out of play off Jonny Evans. “We live in Delhi and had a terrific thunderstorm two weeks ago, and despite 50 degrees heat we managed to photo these egg sized whoppers,” writes James Debenham, whose photo has for some reason come out sidewars in our photo system. “I hope yours were not that big because these were seriously dangerous.” Either Lyon’s hailstones were indeed smaller, or you have tiny hands.
72 mins: Ukraine make a change, bringing Roman Zozulya on and Seleznyov off. The departed player sits on the bench for 30 seconds or so looking stroppy, and then stomps off down the tunnel.
71 mins: Oooh! Seleznyov nods down and Kovalenko drives the ball narrowly wide from 19 yards. “I think the delay will help Ukraine, as it gave hem time to wring water out of their shirts and towel off their heads,” writes Kari Tulinius. “The Northern Irish players seemed to thrive as the weather got worse. The Ukrainians had gotten the haggard look of characters in the kind of Eastern European film where people get beaten to death for having once had an enjoyable moment.”
70 mins: A distressing update from Andy Hunter:
Worrying scene at Stade de Lyon. A cover has been pulled around a #NIR fan receiving medical attention in the upper tier.
— Andy Hunter (@AHunterGuardian) June 16, 2016
70 mins: The ITV clock’s back, and we’re only in the 70th minute.
72 mins or so: A substitution for Northern Ireland. Jamie Ward goes off, Niall McGinn comes on.
70 mins or thereabouts: Sydorchuk has been booked for fouling Corry Evans.
68 mins: ITV’s broadcast has lost its clock, so really I’ve got no idea how long they’ve played. There’s lots of splashy water flying off the pitch whenever anyone jumps, slides, falls, walks, kicks or bounces. “The co-commentator on ESPN just described the Ukraine defending at the Northern Ireland goal as ‘Kama Sutra defending’,” writes Ben Fitzpatrick. “I am guessing he meant Kamikaze.”
64 mins: Dallas’s lovely turn on the left wing makes Sydorchuk look a little silly, but nothing comes of it (except a nice moment for Northern Ireland’s eventual end-of-tournament slow-motion tearful slow-mo montage).
63 mins: Jamie Ward gets booked, for having jumped into an opponent a couple of minutes ago. The referee waved play on, and when it finally went out of play it was after Ward had apparently been fouled, so it looked for a moment that he’d been booked for being fouled.
63 mins: The Will Grigg chant gets yet another airing. After that downpour though nothing’s on fire in Lyon, or anywhere near it.
Play on!
59 mins: Play continues. In the downtime, though, we got to see the goal in slow motion a few times. McAuley actually seemed to be screaming as he headed it. Super header too, awesome.
Back on now but this message was up on big screen pic.twitter.com/HWZiK3NKM6
— James Ducker (@TelegraphDucker) June 16, 2016
Updated
The players don’t hide for long – they towel themselves down, wring out their shirts, and then they’re back out. The hail has stopped.
And now they're back on. Ridiculous.
— Andy Hunter (@AHunterGuardian) June 16, 2016
Hail stops play!
58 mins: These hailstones are nuts. Literally, the size of walnuts. And the referee is having none of it.
Updated
56 mins: Now Ward is fouled, right near the corner flag. It’s headed out to Norwood, and his shot goes through a thicket of legs and is collected by Pyatov – a deflection might have helped there.
55 mins: And another free kick, Northern Ireland’s this time, falls to ground in Ukraine’s penalty area and prompts a moment’s panic, before it’s booted into touch.
54 mins: This one floats over everybody’s head and nearly into the top corner, until McGovern rises, drops, falls and collects.
52 mins: The rain is ludicrously heavy, so thick it almost looks foggy. Ukraine win another free kick, wide on the left. Konoplyanka stands over it.
51 mins: Save! A very similar free-kick down the other end, and this one is won by, I think, Seleznyov. His header is on target, and McGovern can’t catch the soggy ball, but he collects it at the second attempt. An excellent chance, and had it gone either side of the keeper the Northern Irish balloon would have been very swiftly and emphatically deflated.
GOAL! Ukraine 0-1 Northern Ireland (McAuley, 49 mins)
A goal! Less than four minutes into the second half Norwood floats a free-kick into the area, and McAuley runs clear of Khacheridi, doing a hopeless job of marking him, rises high and heads in unchallenged!
Updated
48 mins: Ukraine win a corner, and Seleznyov wins it in front of the near post, glancing his header wide.
46 mins: Corry Evans gives away a free kick in the Ukraine penalty area as he tries to reach a cross first.
46 mins: I don’t know where the ITV commentary team are hiding, but you can actually hear the water dripping at times.
Peeeeeeeep!
46 mins: They’re off! Again!
The players are back out. The rain has got heavier, if anything.
Updated
Half-time stats (Uefa’s are slightly different to Opta’s, worryingly):
Ukraine
Shots 5
On target 1
Fouls committed 6
Possession 65%
Northern Ireland
Shots 8
On target 3
Fouls committed 4
Possession 35%
7 - #NIR had 7 shots v #UKR in the first half. Against #POL on matchday 1 they only had 2 in 90 minutes. Improved. #UKRNIR
— OptaFranz (@OptaFranz) June 16, 2016
Still no goals for Northern Ireland, then, but they’ve threatened, they’ve passed the ball with pace, and Craig Cathcart has impersonated Leonardo Bonucci with a couple of lovely long-range passes.
Half time: Ukraine 0-0 Northern Ireland
45+1 mins: After six seconds of stoppage time, the referee decides he fancies a breather.
45 mins: The last 20 minutes or so have been pretty even, with Northern Ireland doing the better attacking. There have still, however, been no real chances of any sort.
43 mins: Just before that shot, Tevhen Seleznyov became the first player to be booked, for a late tackle from behind.
40 mins: Oooh! Northern Ireland win a free kick 10 yards from the half-way line,l and it’s played low into Steven Evans, who blasts goalwards from an unlikely angle and forces Pyatov into a decent save.
39 mins: Ward crosses low from the right towards Corry Evans, who’s caught on his heels and doesn’t react to what might have been a fantastic chance.
Updated
38 mins: Northern Ireland win the header again, McAuley this time, but the ball loops harmlessly goalwards.
37 mins: Down the other end, Ward shoots from 30 yards but the ball comes off Stepanenko’s hands and goes wide.
36 mins: The ball is played to Shevchuk, bursting down the left, but though his first touch is good, bringing the high ball under control, when he lands again he slips and falls.
34 mins: Oooh! The corner comes in, Cathcart rises highest and he heads over the bar!
Updated
33 mins: A moment of potential for Northern Ireland, but the ball won’t quite drop in the right place at the right time, and it ends with Evans’s shot being deflected wide.
32 mins: Will Grigg’s song gets an outing.
29 mins: Rakitskiy slips while running with the ball and slides into Jamie Ward in quite painful style. There’s no intent whatsoever, but it proves this is the kind of slippy, slidy pitch on which accidents can happen.
Updated
28 mins: Ward runs down the left and crosses low to the near post, who feels a touch from Khacheridi and goes down theatrically. There is contact there, but he overreacted to it, and on his way down he kneed the ball off the field. Goal kick.
26 mins: The 24th minute was notable mainly for the loud applause of the Northern Ireland fans in tribute to Darren Rodgers, the 24-year-old fan who died after a fall last week.
Updated
24 mins: Rakitskiy’s shot is from hail-mary range, though with rain falling pretty hard in Lyon there’s a certain logic behind hammering in the occasional low, bouncing tester. McGovern isn’t particularly tested by this one, though.
Updated
22 mins: Yarmolenko’s left-footed cross from the right is just too long for Seleznyov, who was being well marshalled in the centre.
20 mins: Nice work involving Cathcart, Norwood and Davis sees Northern Ireland escape from a pocket of pressure in their own half and mount an attack of their own.
Updated
18 mins: A decent start here, but Ukraine are undoubtedly the more impressive side. They haven’t created anything much, though, and their latest attack ends when a lofted pass bounces away from Fedetskiy, the right-back, as he surges into the area.
16 mins: The Irish have 10 men behind the ball as Ukraine attack, but Shevchuk’s low cross is cleared by McAuley, and then Sydorchuk’s long-range shot screams over the bar, and also wide of the post.
13 mins: That’s excellent work from Washington, running from the centre to the left to chase down Cathcart’s chipped pass, playing it back to a team-mate who immediately loses it, then sprinting over, winning it back and having a shot.
12 mins: A decent spell of Ukraine possession ends with Shevchuk’s laughable attempt to win a free-kick on the left wing. Northern Ireland try to counter, but don’t keep the ball long enough to get anywhere.
Updated
9 mins: Norwood dawdles in his own half and Sydorchuk sprints in, takes the ball off his toes and has a shot blocked (by McAuley’s arm, though it was firmly by his side).
7 mins: Ukraine cross from the left, but Seleznyov’s attempt to reach it is stymied by McAuley’s physical presence, just holding him off.
5 mins: Those lions appear to have scared away lots of people, to judge by all the empty seats.
4 mins: Dallas has the game’s first shot, low and on target but not hard enough to beat Pyatov, from 20-odd yards.
Updated
3 mins: Shevchuk goes flying into a challenge midway into Northern Ireland’s half, and concedes a free kick. “Cathcart? Who among us could forget that the diamonds in A Fish Called Wanda were stashed in a deposit box at the Cathcart Towers hotel at Heathrow?” wonders Oliver Pattenden. Um, yes, who could forget that vital nugget. Weren’t they (spoiler alert) in a fishtank? Or was that something else?
1 mins: Northern Ireland continue to pressure Ukraine, winning themselves a corner that is eventually cleared.
Peeeeeeeep!
1 min: Ukraine get the ball quite literally rolling. Moments later, Davis nicks the ball but it rons off the pitch.
David Bury points out the blindingly obvious – that the lions might have more to do with the local club’s badge than the town’s name (though their presence on the badge may have a lot to do with the town’s name). The scary-looking bloke with a gun whose reflection you can see, incidentally, was there as part of a training exercise held a few weeks ago.
The players, referees and “player escorts” are on their way out. Meanwhile: “There isn’t a McAuley but there is an unincorporated community in West Virginia by the name of McCauley,” writes AA. I have no idea what an unincorporated community is, but it doesn’t sound very impressive.
Uncannily, BBC’s reporter in the stadium – who just quizzed Iain Dowie, the only Northern Irishman ever to score a goal against Ukraine – about his pre-match thoughts – is Leon Mann. I wonder if Leon saw the lions in Lyon?
Turns out there are a multitude of Lyon lions:
Further travels of this Northern Ireland team (or their surnames, at least): “There is a Cathcart street here in Montréal,” reports Howard Daives.
This is a strangely semi-literal kind of street decoration. Lyon doesn’t mean lion, but it does kind of sound like lion. It’s a bit like putting a statue of Björk in York.
Updated
“Seeing Dallas and Washington in the line-up prompted one of those really-not-worth-it Wikipedia searches,” writes Giovanni Pisoni. “Turns out 10 of the 11 Northern Irish starters share their names with at least one US town (there’s a McGovern in Pennsylvania!). No McAuley unfortunately, but apparently there’s a McAuley park somewhere in Canada.” I disagree, Giovanni – it was very much worth it.
Here’s the official team sheet:
Kyle Lafferty has been dropped by Northern Ireland
This just in from our man on the ground, Andy Hunter:
Michael O’Neill has made a major call for Northern Ireland’s potentially decisive European Championship game against Ukraine by dropping leading goalscorer Kyle Lafferty.
The Northern Ireland manager has opted for five changes to the team that started Sunday’s defeat by Poland as he goes in search of the country’s first points of the tournament. Changes were expected following the team’s difficulties in Nice but the extent of the upheaval is a surprise.
Lafferty, who scored seven goals in qualifying, is the shock omission. O’Neill has gone for a three-pronged attack of Jamie Ward, Conor Washington and Stuart Dallas instead of the centre-forward who suffered a groin injury in training last week and was on the periphery of the Poland game. Lafferty was outspoken in his criticism of the team following the 1-0 loss in Nice, as were others.
Another surprise is the selection of Aaron Hughes at right back. The 36-year-old is without a club following his release by Melbourne City and will be up against Ukraine’s impressive winger Yevhan Konoplyanka on his 101st appearance for Northern Ireland. Corry Evans is the other change to the starting line-up and expected to line-up in a three-man midfield alongside captain Steven Davis and Oliver Norwood.
Northern Ireland will be the first team knocked out of the European Championships should they lose to Ukraine today and Germany avoid defeat against Poland this evening. O’Neill’s team would be unable to finish third in Group C even if they beat world champions Germany in Paris next Tuesday as they would have an inferior head-to-head record against Poland and Ukraine.
The team to play Ukraine in full is: McGovern; Hughes, Cathcart, McAuley, J Evans; C Evans, Davis, Norwood; Ward, Washington, Dallas.
Hello world!
Ukraine - Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland - Ukraine. It’s a fixture with a certain je ne sais quoi, I’m sure you’ll agree. And historically the quoi that it has ne pas sait has been goals – the two previous meetings between the teams in the European Championship came in qualifying for the 2004 tournament; both finished goalless, Ukraine finished third (behind Greece and Spain) and Northern Ireland last (also behind Armenia). How times have changed, though Northern Ireland’s future in this tournament is surely dependent on them winning today. These two teams also met in qualifying for the 1998 World Cup, when Ukraine, with the Rebrov-Shevchenko attacking partnership in full effect, won 2-1 at home and 1-0 away. Northern Ireland finished fifth in that group, behind Germany, Ukraine, Portugal and Armenia again, but at least ahead of fellow future Euro 2016 qualifiers Albania, and Ukraine lost out on a place in France to Croatia in a play-off.
Northern Ireland need to make history here, by finally getting one over on the Ukrainians. Both teams lost their first fixture, but Michael O’Neill’s men have to play Germany in their final game and could do without going into that one in search of their first three points. With head-to-head results being the first way of separating teams that finish level on points, if Northern Ireland lose they will no longer be able to finish above either Poland or Ukraine, and will thus only be able to qualify for the knock-out stages if Germany lose to Poland at the Stade de France tonight and they themselves beat the World Champions in their final group game and their record at the end of it all is better than at least two other third-placed teams.
The Czech Republic’s Pavel Královec will wield the whistle in Lyon today. He gave Sevilla three penalties in a single half when he took charge of their game against Borussia Mönchengladbach last September, and was also strutting his stuff during Manchester City’s home game against Bayern Munich in the group stage of last season’s Champions League, when he gave City a penalty and sent off Bayern’s Mehdi Benatia with 70 minutes still to play, and City went on to win 3-2. But relax, he has also been involved in lots of games that featured neither red cards nor multiple penalties.
What’s No1 in Ukraine?
This is Ne Jdy (Don’t Go), by Okean Elzy, this week’s Ukrainian No1. Svyatoslav Vakarchuk, the band’s singer and songwriter, says (via an online translation tool): “The appearance in the video of a car similar to the one you can see in the video for 911 was my idea. Since it took a clip Igor, I offered this time appear to us in a similar car. It has added a special, metaphysical meaning of the story.” I hope you enjoy the song, the video, and its special metaphysical meaning.
Hello. Simon will be here soon for Ukraine v Northern Ireland, where for Michael O’Neill’s team the only way is up – at least as far as our power rankings are concerned. Northern Ireland are 24th of 24 after the first round of games, but today’s opponents are just three spots higher after a limp performance against Germany.
Are Northern Ireland the most limited team of all? Michael O’Neill’s side sought to frustrate and contain Poland but it was obvious within minutes that they were a grade below their opponents. Apart from Czech Republic (v Spain) and Ukraine (v Germany) they had the worst share of possession – and only had two shots. Meeting Ukraine on Thursday evening will be decisive; it is near inconceivable that they can defeat Germany in their final group game on Tuesday.
Read Alan Smith’s full rankings here.
Updated
