Northern Ireland 0 Netherlands 0Steven Davis missed a first-half penalty as Northern Ireland’s faint hopes of automatic qualification for Euro 2020 ended with a scoreless draw against the Netherlands in what stands to be Michael O’Neill’s final home game in charge. Attention will instead turn to March’s playoffs, with Northern Ireland’s place secured as of Friday night thanks to Sweden’s win over Romania, though they will finish off their Group C fixtures away to Germany on Tuesday night. A pre-match video celebration of his achievements helped build the atmosphere, positively rocking come kick-off, and it was against that backdrop that Northern Ireland began unsettling the Netherlands straight away. If Ronald Koeman felt Northern Ireland’s tactics in the reverse fixture last month were “outrageous” and “terrible to watch”, it is unlikely he was much keener on the attacking intent displayed early on. With half an hour gone, Northern Ireland were gifted a penalty when Joel Veltman handled McNair’s cross under pressure from Saville.

Source: The Irish Times November 16, 2019 22:18 UTC