Northern Ireland vs Germany was supposed to be the game where the World Champions finally display their dominance on the pith , instead labored despite dominating the possession and thanks to Mario Gomez’s first half goal, they were able to see off a Northern Ireland side which never really threatened Manuel Neuer and Germany settled for a 1-0 win .
Northern Ireland were unchanged from their 2-0 win against Ukraine and kept things compact as Germany dominated possession early on . Germans however did find a way in and goalkeeper McGovern had to make key saves from Muller and Ozil early on. Thomas Muller should have opened the scoring when he dragged his shot wide after a beautiful exchange from Gomez.
It was Muller again moments later who hit the post with a diving header , although the flag had been raised for offside.
Muller turned provider as he pulled back for Gomez to find the net , his first goal in a major tournament since Euro 2012. Muller hit the woodwork again five minutes later as Germany looked to inflict further damage before the break.
Things stayed much the same in the second half as well, there was all one way traffic with Northern Ireland offering little help to themselves. Toni Kroos completed 121 asses himself, 11 more than the entire Northern Ireland team, a stat which shows the extent to which Germany dominated the possession.
Elsewhere Poland won 1-0 , but Germany still finish top of their group with a better goal difference and later results in game involving Turkey and Czech Republic mean that Northern Ireland have now also qualified for the next round.
Also read – Euro 2016 : 5 things we learnt as Croatia beat Spain
