Northern Ireland are undefeated at home in qualifying fixtures for four years. Head coach Michael O’Neill has recently received an honorary doctorate for his work at Northern Ireland head coach. The World Cup qualifier sold out weeks ago and assistant coach Marcus Sorg spoke before the highly-anticipated fixture.
DFB.de: Marcus Sorg, it was unbelievable how much it rained during training yesterday. What impressions have you gathered from the team so far?
Marcus Sorg: It was a good training session at Windsor Park and the atmosphere is great. All the players trained with a smile on their face. We’re all looking forward to this match.
DFB.de: Northern Ireland have conceded two goals in qualification so far and both were against Germany. Why are they so strong defensively?
Sorg: Historically, their defence has always been strong. They always defend passionately but also with discipline. Jonny Evans, for instance, played at Manchester United for 10 years but he’s not the only good defender in the team.
DFB.de: How are you planning to get through the Northern Irish defence?
Sorg: Northern Ireland will want to play long, high balls as it doesn’t suit us. They’ll try to switch the ball very often to try and win the second balls in the air. We need to play the game at our pace and create chances for ourselves like we did against Norway.
DFB.de: Joshua Kimmich is currently the top assist-maker in the European World Cup Qualifiers.
Sorg: Jo is an excellent player. He’s a quality player to have at right-back. Ever since the European Championships in France, he’s been a mainstay of the side.
DFB.de: In the last game against Northern Ireland, Germany had 75 percent possession and had 25 shots on their goal. However, the team only found the net twice. Do you think the team lacks efficiency in front of goal?
Sorg: What’s most important is creating the chances in the first place. Also, a chance can mean many different things so what we want is to create the best possible chances we can. We don’t just want to keep the ball but to do things with it. At the moment, we’ve not lost a point and are playing at a high level. I think we’re on the right track.
DFB.de: And to create those extra clear cut chances, do you sometimes have to play the extra ball?
Sorg: It’s too easy to say that. It’s more about the quality of the passes. Sometimes you do have to square it when you get into the penalty area if you don’t have any other options, but no situation is ever the same in football. That’s a gross understatement. You’ve got to be multi-faceted to have success.
DFB.de: It’s quite obvious that Northern Ireland will be fired up for this game when the whistle blows. Despite the fact that the game has been sold out for weeks, there’ll be no ticket resales, because no one wants to give up their seats. How are you going to deal with this kind of environment in the first few minutes?
Sorg: Our team is prepared well. We know exactly what lies before us; Northern Ireland will be an emotional and defensively strong opponent. They’ve been unbeaten at home in qualifiers for four years, so we know the atmosphere at Windsor Park will be fiery. We’re all looking forward to it. I definitely won’t be giving up my ticket for this one.
created by mmc/bg
Northern Ireland are undefeated at home in qualifying fixtures for four years. Head coach Michael O’Neill has recently received an honorary doctorate for his work at Northern Ireland head coach. The World Cup qualifier sold out weeks ago and assistant coach Marcus Sorg spoke before the highly-anticipated fixture.
DFB.de: Marcus Sorg, it was unbelievable how much it rained during training yesterday. What impressions have you gathered from the team so far?
Marcus Sorg: It was a good training session at Windsor Park and the atmosphere is great. All the players trained with a smile on their face. We’re all looking forward to this match.
DFB.de: Northern Ireland have conceded two goals in qualification so far and both were against Germany. Why are they so strong defensively?
Sorg: Historically, their defence has always been strong. They always defend passionately but also with discipline. Jonny Evans, for instance, played at Manchester United for 10 years but he’s not the only good defender in the team.
DFB.de: How are you planning to get through the Northern Irish defence?
Sorg: Northern Ireland will want to play long, high balls as it doesn’t suit us. They’ll try to switch the ball very often to try and win the second balls in the air. We need to play the game at our pace and create chances for ourselves like we did against Norway.
DFB.de: Joshua Kimmich is currently the top assist-maker in the European World Cup Qualifiers.
Sorg: Jo is an excellent player. He’s a quality player to have at right-back. Ever since the European Championships in France, he’s been a mainstay of the side.
DFB.de: In the last game against Northern Ireland, Germany had 75 percent possession and had 25 shots on their goal. However, the team only found the net twice. Do you think the team lacks efficiency in front of goal?
Sorg: What’s most important is creating the chances in the first place. Also, a chance can mean many different things so what we want is to create the best possible chances we can. We don’t just want to keep the ball but to do things with it. At the moment, we’ve not lost a point and are playing at a high level. I think we’re on the right track.
DFB.de: And to create those extra clear cut chances, do you sometimes have to play the extra ball?
Sorg: It’s too easy to say that. It’s more about the quality of the passes. Sometimes you do have to square it when you get into the penalty area if you don’t have any other options, but no situation is ever the same in football. That’s a gross understatement. You’ve got to be multi-faceted to have success.
DFB.de: It’s quite obvious that Northern Ireland will be fired up for this game when the whistle blows. Despite the fact that the game has been sold out for weeks, there’ll be no ticket resales, because no one wants to give up their seats. How are you going to deal with this kind of environment in the first few minutes?
Sorg: Our team is prepared well. We know exactly what lies before us; Northern Ireland will be an emotional and defensively strong opponent. They’ve been unbeaten at home in qualifiers for four years, so we know the atmosphere at Windsor Park will be fiery. We’re all looking forward to it. I definitely won’t be giving up my ticket for this one.
