Northern Ireland v Poland, Sunday, 8pm, BeIn Max 1-4
Fleetwood Town are officially the 63rd best team in England. They avoided relegation to its fourth tier on the final day of last season. And their right-back, Conor McLaughlin, is set to start at Euro 2016.
So, in all probability, will Michael McGovern, the goalkeeper who normally plays his home games at Hamilton’s New Douglas Park (capacity 6,018). So should Conor Washington, who four years ago was a postman playing non-league football. He joined QPR in January, but has never scored a goal at Championship level.
Each, in his own way, is an indication of how unlikely Northern Ireland’s participation is. They became the first team seeded fifth to top a qualifying group. They were ranked 129th in the world as recently as 2012. Now they are competing with the elite, as both equals and ultimate underdogs.
Even their players with more pedigree are somewhat unlikely figures. Striker Kyle Lafferty has only scored five goals for his three club teams in the last two years. He struck seven times in Northern Ireland’s qualifying campaign.
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Defender Gareth McAuley has had five seasons of regular Premier League football. Yet when he was 24, he was still playing in the Northern Irish league. He will turn 37 in November and will be among the oldest outfield players on show in France this month.
"It's kind of ridiculous to think I am on the verge of playing in a major tournament," the West Bromwich Albion veteran told World Soccer.
The presence of each is an example of overachievement.
“Some players when they pull on a green shirt are able to lift themselves above the level they play club football,” manager Michael O’Neill told the BBC.
The same may apply to coaches. The 46-year-old, formerly in charge of Brechin and Shamrock, is not even the most famous O’Neill in a French dugout. That mantle belongs with his compatriot, the Republic of Ireland manager Martin.
O'Neill played an inadvertent part in the most recent and remarkable story of outsiders prospering. After his side beat Greece, so did the Faroe Islands. Claudio Ranieri was duly dismissed as manager, resurfacing a few months later at Leicester City.
“There are similarities between Leicester and Northern Ireland when you look at the route a lot of the Leicester players took to get to where they are,” O’Neill said.
McLaughlin was a teammate of Jamie Vardy at Fleetwood Town. O’Neill has compared Washington to Vardy, too, with his rawness.
The other common denominators with Leicester are a terrific team spirit and a set-ball expertise. Centre-back McAuley was the second top scorer in qualifying. Not just for Northern Ireland, but in their group. He is likelier to be busy on his major tasks: defending.
Northern Ireland begin against Poland on Sunday. McAuley may be marking Robert Lewandowski, whose 13 strikes meant he equalled the record for goals in a qualifying campaign. It was first set by David Healy, the Lafferty of his day, a Northern Irish forward who was potent for his country, if not always his club.
Thereafter, the tougher defensive tasks may be McLoughlin’s. Ukraine’s trump cards are their wingers. He may be tasked with halting Yevhen Konoplyanka.
When Northern Ireland face Germany, his immediate opponent may be Mesut Ozil. The Fleetwood man has called his tournament “a shop window”. It is also a trial for one who has been catapulted from obscurity. “It is an amazing journey,” McLaughlin told British newspapers. “A couple of years ago, nobody would know who I was.”
Some of his colleague may be similarly unfamiliar to a wider audience. Four come from Scottish clubs, one from League Two, four from League One and seven from the Championship.
Aaron Hughes plies his trade in Australia. He has become the first Northern Ireland outfield player to win 100 caps. The first came back in 1998.
His longevity provides another improbable element. Northern Ireland’s story is full of them.
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