Women’s EURO 2025 qualifiers semi-final second leg
Northern Ireland v Croatia (1-1 on agg)
(Windsor Park, Tuesday, 7:00pm)
Northern Ireland’s EURO 2025 fate could hardly hang more in the balance. With Croatia bound for Windsor Park, the tie is honours even at 1-1.
The play-off competition will not factor in away goals in any case, meaning extra-time could well be on the cards in Belfast.
From Perth to Doncaster, manager Tanya Oxtoby has seen much in her footballing career, and perhaps a small part of her felt pity for Izabela Lojna last week.
An early penalty was cancelled out with a 92nd minute own goal. Hero to zero, the thrills and spills of top-level sport.
Post match Oxtoby stated:
“We’ve got one more to go, it’s a big push, I know they are really up for it and they are really excited to get back home.”
The rationale behind that excitement has been more than just sporting as it transpired. The sympathy levels for Lojna and Croatia likely even lower than one might have imagined.
Having battled back from the brink of defeat of Friday night, Northern Ireland had planned a training session for Saturday prior to flying home.
That session was cancelled by Northern Ireland, stating a lack of “professional courtesy”, to which the Croatian FA have responded in saying they “try to make every visiting team’s stay in Croatia pleasant” and they are led to believe nothing is different in this instance.
Two sides to every story….
In any case it adds another layer of bite to what was already a crunch clash.
A physical Croatian side had frustrated their opponents on the pitch on Friday, repeatedly fouling throughout the course of the 90 minutes, but crucially keeping on the right side of the referee’s notebook if not foul count.
Falling behind to a penalty early doors certainly wasn’t in the plans or ambitions, but Oxtoby’s side reacted admirably, a trait she feels is reflective of the group she oversees:
“I suppose the grit and determination to make sure that we took something back to Windsor Park with the draw in the end is what this group is all about now.
“It can’t always be pretty and it can’t always be nice, but they will dig in and they will work hard for each other.”
Northern Ireland entered these play-offs through UEFA’s ‘Path 2′, and should they come away with any kind of victory in Windsor, they will meet the winners of the tie between Albania and Norway.
Those pair are in the Republic of Ireland’s Path 1, wherein seeded teams were drawn away from home first, though a gulf in class has been apparent across a number of those affairs.
Norway hold a healthy 5-0 lead heading into tomorrow night’s tie, with Brighton’s Guro Bergsvand at the double on Friday. Path 1 also featured an 8-1 win for the Czech Republic over Belarus.
But Oxtoby’s charges will be looking no further than their own semi-final as they seek to qualify for next summer’s tournament in Switzerland, with the hosts and eight other countries already qualified.