As soon as you see this title you will probably think that we have gone mental and that is a fair assessment considering the low chances that we have of winning anything. But, this site is called Love Belfast and I love football just as much so the potential (and delusion) of Northern Ireland winning a trophy is something I love to think about.
The real chances are low if we are being honest and there’s a chance that we all go our lives without seeing our nation win a trophy especially if we bet on sports today and look at the odds, however, there are always underdogs in football like Greece for example, people wouldn’t bet on them to win the Euros and they did. It is good to have faith in the team even if we are pretty terrible.
Teams That Defied The Odds
I think for pure honesty’s sake, the best way to look at this is to look at smaller nations who have a bigger chance than us and then completely disregard this with my own ideas.
Greece – Euros 2004
One that we have already mentioned and the nation that gave me this page idea, this Greece team is infamous for what they did 20 years ago (yep, twenty.) and for good reason. Not a single person would have predicted Greece winning that Euros and they defied the odds with some great performances and a lot of motivation.
Doing it is obviously massively difficult and the manner in which they did it makes it even more impressive. They beat the hosts, Portugal, in the final and the holders, France, in the Semi-Final. These were teams that had footballing legends on them like Cristiano Ronaldo, Luis Figo and Deco and that’s just the Portugal team!
Uruguay – World Cup 1950
Going back a couple of years ago, we saw the smallest nation win the World Cup. We cannot comment too much about the winning of the trophy because it was 70 years ago, but it still happened and is something that we should look at as a reference because Uruguay is so small.
Can We Get To The World Cup Late Stages?
I think, while it is fun to have the obvious delusions of winning the World Cup or the Euros, we first need to be smart about our expectations of what we could actually do. Now, if we made it to the World Cup or the Euros and got out of the group stage I would be chuffed for months.
Some of the best things about football is having pure bias for your team and your nation and underdogs in football are a massive part of it. While in the biggest leagues, we usually see the same teams win or get Europe, there are expectations of this rule.
The Squad We Have
I think that our squad is actually very good considering how small we are. In defense, we have good options like Johnny Evans, Connor Bradley, Jamal Lewis and Trai Hume as well as a few more. Then in midfield, we have Shea Charles and Paddy McNair with an attack of Dion Charles. Like I said, the core of the squad really isn’t bad at all and all of these players have technical ability.
How Could We Do Well In A Tournament?
The obvious things are a strong defensive structure and having the passion to hang on and survive. These are things that will be drilled into the players by a good manager and passionate fans. Greece wouldn’t have done as well as they could if they didn’t have a strong fan base and a good manager who knew what he wanted to do.
We would obviously need a bit of luck too and hopefully at the next tournament we play in, the luck of the Irish will be there for us.
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