Northern Ireland and Portugal seal Euro 2016 places
ByReuters
Published 08/10/2015 at 22:01 GMT
Northern Ireland and Portugal booked their places in next year's European championship finals in France on Thursday with the Irish beating Greece 3-1 in Belfast and Portugal seeing off Denmark 1-0 in Braga.
Eurosport
Image credit: Eurosport
On the first of six nights which will complete the qualifying group phase, Northern Ireland ensured they will be playing in a major competition for the first time since the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.
They went clear at the top of Group F to take their place in the European finals for the first time.
"It's an amazing feeling, how the players played was just outstanding," Northern Ireland manager Michael O'Neill said.
"How they coped with the players that weren't playing -- right through the team, outstanding. It's a privilege to be here as their manager, (I'm) proud to stand here as their manager."
Portugal were the only other team to seal their place with their victory guaranteeing them top spot in Group I.
Albania, who lost 2-0 at home to two late goals in a politically-charged match against Serbia in the same group, can still pip Denmark to the automatic qualifying spot and a first ever place in any finals, if they win in Armenia on Sunday.
Portugal have 18 points, Denmark, who have finished their programme have 12 and Albania have 11.
Ireland scored one of their greatest ever results by beating world champions Germany 1-0 in Dublin to keep their qualifying hopes alive in Group D.
Germany top the group on 19 points, followed by Poland and Ireland both on 18. Poland drew 2-2 in Scotland, which ended Scottish hopes of qualifying, as they are cut adrift on 12.
Georgia beat Gibraltar 4-0 in the match between the two lowest ranked teams in the group.
With Northern Ireland assured of going through from Group F, Hungary remained in contention to finish in the top three with a 2-1 win over the Faroe Islands as do Romania, who drew 1-1 with Finland who are out.
With one match to play Northern Ireland have 20 points, Romania 17 and Hungary 16.
The top two teams in each of the nine groups qualify automatically along with the best-placed third team and four playoff winners from the remaining third-placed teams.
Hosts France, Austria, Czech Republic, England and Iceland had already qualified.
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