UEFA Euro 2024: Qualifying Group H – Northern Ireland vs San Marino

Northern Ireland host San Marino at Windsor Park in Group H of UEFA Euro 2024 Qualifying.

Northern Ireland will stay fifth with victory but a draw or defeat would see them eliminated from contention to qualify for next summer’s tournament.

San Marino meanwhile are already eliminated and will stay bottom of Group H regardless of the result.

 

Team News

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Alistair McCann is ruled out for Northern Ireland after he withdrew from the squad with a calf strain.

Manager, Michael O’Neill otherwise has a full squad available for selection.

San Marino have no fresh injury concerns to report with a full squad in contention for selection.

 

When is Kick-Off?

Northern Ireland host San Marino at Windsor Park, Belfast, at 2pm BST on Saturday 14 October, live on ViaPlay Sport 1 in the UK.

 

Stat Attack

• Northern Ireland have won all five previous meetings against San Marino in all competitions (W5).
• San Marino have lost each of their last two visits to Northern Ireland across all competitions (L2), during which they lost 4-0 in both trips.
• Northern Ireland have scored 16 goals in their five previous meetings against San Marino without conceding.
• Each of Northern Ireland’s last two home games have ended in 1-0 defeats for the hosts (L2).
• San Marino are the only team in the group yet to score at least one goal (L6).

 

Prediction

Having scored twice in just one of their last five matches and with their qualification hopes all but mathematically sealed, Northern Ireland might as well treat this qualifier like a friendly and use the opportunity to experiment ahead of the World Cup qualifiers.

San Marino meanwhile unsurprisingly remain one of Europe’s worst teams so have nothing to lose coming to Belfast, although they will surely view this as a chance to end their goal drought but the stats suggest that they’re right against it.

Quite frankly, this game feels like one of those dead rubbers where not a lot will be expected but Ireland should be capable of winning this comfortably.

Prediction: Northern Ireland 3-0 San Marino

Result: Northern Ireland 3-0 San Marino