Northern Ireland v Greece background
Thursday, September 3, 2015
Article summary
Northern Ireland need a win against luckless Greece to make certain of reaching the finals of UEFA EURO 2016 – which would be their first European final.
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Article body
Northern Ireland will seal a place in their first-ever UEFA European Championship if they get three points against rock-bottom Greece in their last Group F home game.
• Northern Ireland will also qualify irrespective of the outcome in Belfast if Hungary simultaneously fail to defeat the Faroe Islands.
Previous meetings
• Jamie Ward and Kyle Lafferty scored as Northern Ireland won 2-0 in Greece in the sides' first Group F meeting.
• Northern Ireland's record in six fixtures against Greece is W2 D0 L4 (W1 D0 L1 in Belfast). That lone home defeat came in a FIFA World Cup qualifier over 50 years ago.
Form guide
• Northern Ireland have never played in a UEFA European Championship, though they got to the FIFA World Cup finals in 1958 and 1982.
• Northern Ireland are unbeaten at home in Group F: two victories followed by two draws.
• Greece are bottom of the section having yet to win a Group F game. Their away record in this qualifying campaign reads D3 L1. They have lost all four of their home qualifiers without scoring.
Disciplinary
• Chris Baird, Kyle Lafferty and Connor McLaughlin are all banned against Greece; Chris Brunt's next yellow card will incur a suspension.
• Kostas Manolas serves a one-match ban against Northern Ireland; Nikos Karelis, Panagiotis Kone and Andreas Samaris are all within a booking of a suspension.
Trivia and links
• Kyle Lafferty has netted seven of Northern Ireland's 12 goals in this campaign.
• Greece go into this fixture having played 250 competitive international matches in EUROs and World Cups; their record is W107 D52 L91.
• The two countries have met in four UEFA age-group tournaments, Greece registering three wins to Northern Ireland's one – the most recent of those encounters a 2-0 success for the visitors in Dungannon in a 2012 UEFA European Under-19 Championship tie.
• The nations' clubs have met in six UEFA games to date, with the Greek sides' record W3 D2 L1. The most recent of those ties was very tight; Linfield won 1-0 at Xanthi in the 2013/14 UEFA Europa League second qualifying round but went down 2-1 after extra time in the return fixture in Belfast, losing the tie on away goals.
