Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
MULL STEAM AHEAD M AHEAD
After earning the praise of German great Thomas, keeper Mcgovern targets Norway victory keeper Mcgovern targets Norway victory
MICHAEL MCGOVERN hopes to trouser three points in Oslo after taking the shirt off Thomas Muller’s back at Windsor Park.
The German captain was so impressed by Mcgovern’s display in their classy 3-1 win in Belfast that he requested the Norwich City keeper’s jersey after the game.
A stunning save at the start of the second half to deny him a picture book header prompted the Bayern star to send a kitman scurrying to the Northern Ireland changing room after the game.
Mcgovern, who also starred against the Germans in an heroic 1-0 defeat in Paris at the Euro 2016 finals, said: “Muller had a bit of a laugh with me about the save on the pitch.
“After the game he sent his shirt in with our kitman and asked for mine in return. It was a bit of a surprise because I’ve never swapped with an outfield player before but it was a nice touch.”
While delighted with his Muller (below) memento, Mcgovern’s focus has already turned to tomorrow’s final group game against Norway and ensuring Northern Ireland secure a play-off spot.
Depending on results from other pools this evening, a berth in the two-legged shootout as one of eight best runners-up could be confirmed before kick-off.
But Mcgovern insists the Green and White Army can’t take anything for granted as they look to plot a path to the finals in Russia.
Three points at the
Ullevaal Stadion would guarantee a play-off and go a long way to ensuring
O’neill and his players are seeded in the October 17 draw. Mcgovern said: “In the ideal world, you’d like to be guaranteed a play-off before we face Norway.
“We’ll know more over the next day or so but even if we have secured a spot come Sunday, we want to win this game for the seeding.
“Knowing we’ll probably need a result to be seeded is a positive thing. It’s always good to have something to play for and the incentive is massive.
“If you’d told us at the start of the campaign we’d be in this position now, we would have snapped your hand off.”
Norway may have lost 2-0 in Belfast in March but they are unbeaten in their last four home games and hammered San Marino 8-0 on Thursday.
Mcgovern is bracing himself for a nervy night but believes they have the quality and momentum to secure a positive result.
He also believes O’neill should take positives from a gutsy show against the Germans who stunned Windsor with a fine opener from Sebastian Rudy after 79 seconds.
Sandro Wagner and Joshua Kimmich added further goals before Northern Ireland’s display was rewarded with a late Josh Magennis header. Mcgovern said: “We had to just show our fighting character and I felt we did that. People will criticise certain things we could have done better but you must put it in perspective. “We were playing the world champs and acquitted ourselves well.
“We also scored what could be an important goal in terms of goal difference so there were positives.”