By Jacob Graham
As 2016 gets into full swing, Northern Ireland fans will be counting down the days until they watch their team in their first-ever European Championships.
Michael O’Neill and the Green and White Army found out their opponents for their first major competition for 30 years last month, which made the dream for the long-suffering fans feel much more like reality.
Nice, located on the southern coast of France, a popular holiday destination with a beach rumoured to be better than Portrush’s, will play host to Northern Ireland’s first European Championship game against Poland on June 12, fittingly three decades to the day Northern Ireland played Brazil in the World Cup in Mexico.
The Poles will be a stern test first up – they finished in second place in their qualifying group, just one point behind Germany, who are also in Group C in France.
During qualification, the ever-improving Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski broke the record previously held by Northern Irish legend, David Healy.
The ex-Borussia Dortmund striker scored 13 goals in qualifying for France.
There is sure to be one Northern Ireland song used more than often during the Green and White Army’s Euro 2016 opener: “Artur Boruc, Ulster’s Number One!”
That song became a fans’ favourite after the current Bournemouth keeper made a terrible blunder to allow Northern Ireland to go 3-1 up against the Poles at Windsor Park. The game in March 2009 ended 3-2 to the hosts.
The Irish fans will be praying for a similar result this time round. However, the defence will do well to keep a clean sheet in Nice after the Poles scored 33 goals in their ten qualifying games.
Northern Ireland then travel just over 290 miles to Lyon, the third biggest city in France. There they will face third seeds Ukraine in what will be a vital game for their hopes of getting out of the group stage in what is bound to be the most eagerly anticipated European Championships for years throughout Britain – maybe not in Scotland though!
Ukraine qualified for Euro 2016 through the play-offs, beating Slovenia 3-1 on aggregate.
The Ukrainians finished in third place in their qualifying group behind Spain and Slovakia.
Interestingly, the nation who ex-Chelsea striker-turned-politician, Andriy Shevchenko, featured for 111 times and scored 48 goals for, took just one point from their four games against the two top teams in their qualifying group, showing their reliance on gaining points when playing against the so-called ‘smaller nations’.
The team who play in yellow sit just one place ahead of Northern Ireland in the FIFA rankings at 29 and will be equally as hopeful as O’Neill and co. of getting out of Group C.
Ukraine boss Mykhaylo Fomenko will be relying on Sevilla winger Yevhen Konoplyanka and Dynamo Kiev forward Andriy Yarmolenko to provide the spark to advance his side into the round of 16.
Northern Ireland’s last group game, and arguably most anticipated, is against the Germans. The fans will be hoping that it won’t be the last game of the tournament for the first ever fifth seeds to win a qualifying group.
Interestingly, the trip to Paris from Lyon is just 1.8 miles longer than the players’ and fans’ first trip in France – from Nice to Lyon.
On June 21, O’Neill’s team face Germany in the French capital. The Germans will return to the Stade de France less than a year after witnessing the terror attacks which shook the whole world in November 2015.
The Germans are currently favourites to win the European Championships for what would be a record fourth time (Germany and Spain have won it three times apiece).
However, the Northern Ireland team, led by skipper Steven Davis, go into the game knowing that the Germans are beatable after they lost to both the Poles and the Republic of Ireland during qualification.
They will also take encouragement from their past record against the four-time world champions – how O’Neill would love to see a performance and result like Billy Bingham achieved in the Euro 1982/83 qualifiers as Northern Ireland beat the Germans home and away 1-0.
Ironically, Germany, managed by Joachim Löw, will face the nation least favourite to win the competition in the last game of the group stage but the Green and White Army will be hoping it is not their final game at their first major competition for 30 years.
As well as hoping to qualify for the last 16 on that day in June, the fans will be excited to see the numerous stars that will flood the pitch of the Stade de France, such as: Neuer, Khedira, Schweinsteiger, Muller and Gomez.
With under six months until the Euros begin, the Northern Ireland fans have plenty of time to buy all their competition necessaries – sticker books, printed shirts, wall charts, posters. But they’ll cherish goals and victories in France a lot more.
