Sometimes, a final group table doesn’t do justice to the journey a team goes on in attempting to qualify for the World Cup, so Northern Ireland’s Twitter team posted a video that illustrates their road to the play-offs in no uncertain terms.
Using the universally popular Nintendo game Super Mario Bros, the Northern Ireland badge makes its way through the third stage of world one, bypassing the teams in Group C on its way to second place, behind Germany.
Northern Ireland face Switzerland in the play-offs, with only one of the two able to progress to the 2018 World Cup in Russia – here’s how they got there.
🕹 Replay our @FIFAWorldCup Qualifying journey so far. Can we level up against Switzerland? 🎮🆙 #DareToDream #GAWA 💚 pic.twitter.com/YagMAnJtVX
— Northern Ireland (@NorthernIreland) October 17, 2017
With Goombas and Koopas replaced with the badges of other teams, Northern Ireland make it safely to the flag, where Switzerland lie in wait.
Michael O’Neill’s side did lose three games in the process, but you’ll notice they simply hop over the teams who beat them (Germany twice, Norway once).
The video earned plenty of attention on social media, from fans who enjoyed the video…
Hilarious 😂 and yes, you can 👍
— Karolyn Gaston (@karolyngaston) October 18, 2017
… to those who appreciated the skills of whoever put it together in the first place.
That's a deceptively hard level
— Philip Day (@PhilipDayUK) October 17, 2017
The question remains: can they beat Switzerland in the boss level to make it to the World Cup…
The dream continues… 💚 pic.twitter.com/Ra3x1CJ8Fv
— Northern Ireland (@NorthernIreland) October 8, 2017
… or will it be game over for their qualifying hopes?