NORTHERN IRELAND: THE MAGIC MIRACLE
Nobody gave them hope of qualifying for their first ever major tournament, but they did just that in dramatic style. Now let the 275/ 1 shots defy us again...
Rory Mcilroy’s four majors. Beating Spain at the 1982 World Cup. AP Mccoy and his record 20 championships. Heck, even George Best’s 1968 Ballon d’or. They’ve all been eclipsed in the mind of Kenny Shiels.
“This here is far and away the best ever sporting achievement for Northern Ireland,” the manager gushed when his side reached Euro 2022 with a 4- 1 aggregate play- off win over Ukraine last year. “For the UK, actually – these are amateur players, 16 of the panel play in the Irish League… it’s incredible what they have achieved, incredible.”
And it really is. Northern Ireland are the lowest- ranked team to qualify for this Euros and the only tournament debutants; in fact, as of FIFA’S March rankings, Shiels’ side sat below the likes of Vietnam, Chinese Taipei and Myanmar. They didn’t even try to qualify the last time England held the Euros in 2005, and hadn’t since the 1991 edition.
To cap it all off, Northern Ireland made it to this summer’s showpiece without star player Rachel Furness of Liverpool, who was forced to watch the second leg of their play- off in Belfast on crutches from the sidelines with a snapped ankle. More than a bid for Euros triumph, this feels like a pitch to Hollywood.
Even the group stage itself was dramatic: Northern Ireland were twice smashed for six by Norway, but after 2- 2 and 0- 0 stalemates with Wales, their head- to- head away goals record snuck them into the play- offs as the lowest- ranked team – handy, since their goal difference was 12 worse than Wales’.
Typically, a tricky draw for the tournament itself has thrown up Norway and pantomime villains England – the Lionesses themselves have plundered 15 goals past them in three games since February 2021.
But that’s where this sort of chat ends – because the Green and White Army, playing all three group games in Southampton, are looking to shorten their odds and surprise many this summer.
Getting Furness fit and firing once more was the first step – in October, the Reds ace scored five times across two 2023 World Cup qualifiers against North Macedonia to break David Healy’s national scoring record, before picking up her BBC Northern Ireland Sports Personality of the Year 2021 award from Jurgen Klopp. If that wasn’t already enough, the Sunderland native sealed a fine season by helping Liverpool to the second- tier title.
More crucially, though, the rest of Furness’ team- mates have been afforded the chance to step things up with a professional, sevenmonth training camp that began in January. Anyone in the squad without a professional club has enjoyed access to physiotherapy, cryospa treatments and psychology sessions, with England- based players linking up during international breaks. But even before that in October, they’d held the Lionesses for over an hour at Wembley until succumbing 4- 0.
Whatever happens, 2022 has already been a watershed year for women’s football in Northern Ireland. This summer, their squad will meld a handful of 50- plus- cap stars with many more whose taste for the international game has barely been whetted, but they’re all joining forces to do something none of their compatriots have ever achieved. Maybe, just maybe, the shocks aren’t over yet…
When Alexia Putellas debuted for Spain in June 2013, she was doing so for a nation that was ranked 18th in the world; one that had never qualified for a World Cup in six attempts, and were only just about to embark on their second major tournament ever.
At that summer’s European Championship, Spain exited in the quarter- finals after a limp 3- 1 defeat to Norway. When it came to their first World Cup two years later, they picked up their only point against a Costa Rica side that finished above them in a miserable group stage. The 2017 Euros were no better: after blanking for a third game running with a goalless draw against major tournament debutants Austria in the last eight, La Roja burned out on penalties. Then at the most recent World Cup in France, Jorge Vilda’s team squeaked through their group with a solitary victory against South Africa before facing the might of eventual winners the USA in the last 16.
But that was all then – and evidently, none of it matters a jot. Because in 2022, Spain’s women are the bookies’ favourites for Euros glory… and with very good reason. Boasting the reigning Ballon d’or holder and form firmly in their favour after a seismic change of fortunes, Putellas & Co head for England as the nation to beat.
That’s mainly because no one’s actually managed to do it for well over two years now, since the USA saw them off in March 2020 at the Shebelieves Cup. It’s not even through a lack of competition, either: England ( twice), the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Canada, Germany and Brazil have all tried to topple Vilda’s outfit without success.
It meant Spain breezed through qualifying with a near- perfect record, conceding just one goal in their eight matches ( well done to the Czechs, in a 5- 1 demolition) and posting another 48 at the other end. Poor Azerbaijan felt the brunt of 10- 0 and 13- 0 whippings.
Even by the measures of women’s football, where several nations have taken some vast strides in a relatively short space of time, the Spanish ascent feels particularly rapid. The formation of a Women’s Football Association ( ACFF) in November 2015 was a landmark, but in general the Spanish FA have been on a mission to get girls under 16 choosing the sport over basketball. With that, grassroots participation is booming.
Money always helps, too. Domestically, TV rights and major sponsorship deals have ploughed new cash into the Spanish game, making attendances surge: the 60,739 crowd that Atletico Madrid got for a league game in March 2019 made international headlines, before Barcelona’s Champions League semi- final first leg against Wolfsburg this season attracted 91,648 to the Camp Nou – a record for a women’s match this century. When you consider the Spanish government only granted professional status to La Liga Femenina in 2020- 21, some 33 years after its launch, it’s all the more remarkable.
At club level, Real Madrid finally decided to start caring about women’s football in 2020, but they’re playing catch- up to a dominant Barça who’ve made incredible strides of their own – Spain’s rise goes hand in hand with that of their best club, who only made it to their first Champions League final in 2019 but have now contested three of the last four. As Chelsea discovered in their painful 2021 pummeling – or better still, as Blues boss Emma Hayes summed it up to FFT last year – “there was a huge gap”. Eight of their starting XI that night were Spanish.
Much of the attention this summer will rest on their star midfield all- rounder Putellas as she wins her record 100th cap for Spain, but other adversaries will be particularly wary of 32- year- old forward Jennifer Hermoso, too: averaging 0.86 goals per game since joining Barça and posting a one- in- two record for her nation, the experienced striker is a force to be reckoned with. Indeed, heading into June, the standout pair had scored seven of Spain’s last eight goals.
The favourites tag can often weigh heavy, and this is unchartered territory for La Roja as they aim for glory at Wembley on July 31. They’ll be up against it from the off as they take their place in a particularly tricky group, but the hype around them is justified – just ask the 18 countries who’ve tried to burst their bubble in the last two years...