Northern Ireland seek thrills and spills

Northern Ireland's UEFA EURO 2008™ campaign has seen remarkable highs and lows: wins against table-toppers Sweden and Spain, home and away defeats by Group F strugglers Iceland, and a change of manager.

Progress
But unless the final two rounds of matches bring an incredible sequence of results, the team now coached by Nigel Worthington will have to look back on a period of progress – rather than looking forward to a summer in Austria and Switzerland.

Permutations
Exemplary will only replace satisfactory on the end-of-term report if Northern Ireland win their remaining games, at home to Denmark on Saturday and away to Spain next Wednesday, while the second-placed Spanish lose both of theirs. (Or, to further complicate matters, if Spain win one, Sweden lose two, and the Northern Irish become all-conquering.)

Pleasant surprise
Northern Ireland sit fourth in Group F, level on 17 points from ten outings with Denmark in third, five points behind Spain and six short of Sweden. That they are still in contention is gratifying for midfielder Steven Davis. "When the draw was made, looking at the group, if you'd said that we'd be going into the last two games still with a chance of qualifying, you'd definitely have been surprised. But that's where we find ourselves," said the 22-year-old from Fulham FC.

Roller coaster
The first of the back-to-back tests for Worthington's men comes at Windsor Park against the Danes, whom Northern Ireland held to a 0-0 draw in October 2006. A run of four straight victories after that established Davis and company among the Group F leaders, but their form has dipped with autumn defeats by lowly Latvia and Iceland – before the leavening effect of a 1-1 draw in Sweden last time out. So while Spain tackle Sweden this weekend, Northern Ireland attempt to fulfil their part of the bargain against "a good football nation" in Denmark. Davis said: "We played them out there and it was a difficult task but we took something from the game."

'Door still open'
For manager Worthington, meanwhile, "the door is still open and it's up to us to go for it." "I am hoping Saturday will be another great night at Windsor Park. We have got to get on top of the Danes and take our chances when they come," he continued. The Greens' dream is still alive.