The pressure is all on Euro heavyweights, says Davis
NORTHERN IRELAND captain Steven Davis believes the pressure is on Germany and the Netherlands as the Euro 2020 qualifying campaign moves into its decisive stage.
Michael O’Neill’s side have given themselves the best chance possible of beating one of the two heavyweights to a place at next year’s finals by winning their first four games in Group C, home and away to Belarus and Estonia.
Now as they prepare for tonight’s showdown with Germany at Windsor Park, Davis said the weight of expectation was on their opponents.
“In the first four games we weren’t looking at the others too much,” said the Rangers midfielder, who stands to break Aaron Hughes’ record of 112 outfield caps in the game.
“We were just focusing on ourselves, getting maximum points. We knew that would be difficult and it proved to be difficult, but we managed it.
“We wanted to be in a position in these four games with all to play for. In many ways the pressure’s on Holland and Germany.
“Do I believe we can go and get results against them? 100 per cent, yes.
“Would we beat them if we played them regularly? No.”
Northern Ireland have not beaten Germany since a 1-0 win over the old West Germany in 1983, and have lost the last seven meetings between the two sides.
Three of those defeats have come under O’Neill, who also picked up on the theme of expectations.
“I think if any team from a country of our size can qualify from a group with Holland and Germany in it then they probably deserve a wee pat on the back,” O’Neill said.
“That’s what we’ll be aiming for. These are two teams that expect to qualify for major tournaments and rightly so because history tells us that’s what they normally do.
“These are in the top eight, 10 teams in Europe. That’s the challenge, so if we can come out of this group at the expense of either Holland or Germany, it will be an amazing achievement for this group of players.”
Germany have undergone an overhaul of their squad since the disappointment of their group stage exit at the 2018 World Cup, a similar change to the one overseen by O’Neill as he has integrated a number of youngsters into his side.
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