Archive September 1, 2025

Luxembourg vs. Northern Ireland: Fifa World Cup qualifier

Date: Thursday, September 4th, 2019 Kick-off: 19:45 BST

When Northern Ireland attempt to qualify for the 2026 World Cup against Luxembourg on Thursday, it will be their first qualifying match in almost two years because of the nature of the international football calendar.

The last time Michael O’Neill’s side faced such a fixture was in October 2023, when they defeated Denmark 2-0, which turned out to be a bit of an anomaly.

Only four victories, two of which came from San Marino and Lithuania, were recorded in the side’s previous 17 qualifiers.

If the team’s run of results over the course of two qualifying campaigns appeared to have signaled the end of a golden era for them, which included qualifying for Euro 2016 and reaching play-offs for the World Cup of 2018 and Euro 2020, then the point was brought home by the squad’s changing face over the course of the next 23 months.

Steven Davis, Stuart Dallas, Craig Cathcart, Jonny and Corry Evans, and Craig Cathcart have all left the football field since that final qualifying game.

A dynamic young core centered on Conor Bradley, Isaac Price, Shea Charles, and Trai Hume has taken the side’s place as they prepare to face both Germany and Slovakia as well as Luxembourg.

Manager Michael O’Neill said, “That game against Denmark probably marked the beginning of it.”

After a difficult campaign for 2024 that ended many players’ careers at international level, “it was quite a young team that played that night,” the young team said.

We’ve had to develop and grow a team over the past two years. Sometimes, when perhaps it was a little too early, we’ve maybe hired some young players, but we still thought it was the right course of action.

The idea that he would have to “grow a team” was probably not at the forefront of O’Neill’s mind when he left for the post in December 2022.

However, injury-related unavailability also caused Dallas and Davis to enter retirement earlier than they had anticipated, while other senior players also experienced unavailability.

The former Newcastle United midfielder has played well after being dealt the unwelcome hand.

There have been some harsh lessons learned when “a little early” exposes talented young players to the demands of international football, most notably a 5-1 defeat by Spain six weeks before La Roja won Euro 2024 and a 2-13 defeat to Sweden on the same night when Alexander Isak ran riot.

However, the most notable results from the past two years have been dramatic improvements in output, many of which were achieved through performances in accordance with O’Neill standards.

There is a sense that the new manager has always been the one constant during this transition.

O’Neill is gearing up for his fifth qualifying campaign as manager after an eight-year international playing career, having led the team 96 times in his two spells.

“Any football situation, whether it’s at a club or an international one, benefits from stability,” I believe. That’s an important thing, he said, “I believe.”

I had been in the position for eight years, according to the IFA, who I left with. Then, returning and committing myself to this five-year commitment creates stability.

Northern Ireland has had to wait to begin their campaign despite being drawn in a four-team group, where two intriguing, if vastly different, tests will be taking place.

The group’s lowest-ranked team will travel to Luxembourg on Thursday, returning to a ground where they lost a two-goal lead to draw in the Nations League game in November.

In Cologne, they will take on four-time World Cup winners Germany just three days later, a game that will serve as a benchmark for how far they have come since those difficult encounters with Spain and Sweden.

With only six games left, the margins are so slim that fans are frantically looking for flights and lodging when they get four points this week, compared to the previous three, who feel like the dream has come to an end before it even starts.

O’Neill rejects the idea, even though the squad’s age profile might suggest that this qualifying campaign comes one cycle too soon.

This will be the players’ first chance to qualify for a World Cup, said O’Neill for the majority of the players in this group.

You have to wait another four years before this opportunity comes along again, O’Neill said, so look, don’t take it for granted.

Our goal is to keep our company as close to the competition as possible.

After past Cristina Bucsa to reach the quarter-finals in New York, defending champion Aryna Sabalenka claimed that her 2025 challenge is not based solely on her success from the previous year’s US Open.

In Louis Armstrong Stadium, the 27-year-old Belarusian won 6-1, 6-4, in the match against the unseeded Spaniard without a break point.

Sabalenka defeated American Jessica Pegula in the final of her third Grand Slam singles victory overall, which she won in September last year.

She lost to Coco Gauff and Madison Keys in the finals of Roland Garros and the Australian Open, respectively, to not have won a major title this year.

When asked about the pressure of defending her title at Flushing Meadows, Sabalenka responded, “I play not to lose, I play to win.”

“I don’t care what transpired last year,” he said. It’s a big accomplishment, of course, and I’m happy I did it once, but the goal is to do it more often.

“I always go out with the best fighting spirit and just fight for my dream,” my mentality says.

Sabalenka wants to win the US Open women’s singles title for the first time since Serena Williams did it in 2014.

In 27 minutes, Sabalenka broke Bucsa, who was ranked 95th in the world, twice to win the first set.

Busca held steady in her opening two service matches of the second set, but Sabalenka won the fifth game, keeping her position as world number one until the tournament’s conclusion, by securing a consolation break in the fifth game.

After defeating fellow Wimbledon champion Rybakina, Vondrousova defeated her to make it to the last-second Grand Slam quarter-final.

Czech left-hander Vondrousova has struggled with injuries and missed last year’s US Open due to shoulder surgery on the eve of the tournament. She won at the All England Club in 2023.

The 26-year-old out-served Rybakina, who is currently leading the WTA Tour in terms of ace count and first-serve percentage this year.

After falling to seventh seed Jasmine Paolini in the final round, Vondrousova twice broke Rybakina’s serve to put down 13 aces to her ninth-seeded opponent’s five.

It’s amazing to be standing here again, said Vindrousova, who is ranked 60th overall.

For Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta, Wayne Rooney believes it could be “now or never” and that he is “expected” to win silverware.

Dominik Szoboszlai scored a stunning free-kick to give Liverpool a 1-0 lead over Arsenal on Sunday.

When asked on The Wayne Rooney Show if he thought Arsenal might benefit from it now or never, Rooney responded, “Maybe not for Arsenal, but I think it might be for Arteta, possibly.

“I believe they allowed him to sign a lot of players and spend a lot of money,” he said. I imagine that he will have a chance to win the league, both on the board and in the fans. Therefore, I believe he might enjoy a significant year.

However, the former England and Manchester United player believes Liverpool will still be the favorite to win the Premier League this year.

“Liverpool are a very good team,” Rooney said. They have the experience and the know-how to have won the league twice in recent years. When you win games, it demonstrates a good team spirit.

Rooney continued, “Arsenal should have displayed more bravery at Anfield than they should have,” noting that he believed they should have won.”

I believe they could win that if they were just a little bit braver and went to Liverpool and actually won the game,” he said.

That’s a real chance, in my opinion, Arsenal have today. However, I believe Liverpool have done what the champions do: they have stayed in the game.

Rooney, who was born in Liverpool and started his career at Everton, said he “detested going to Anfield when he played for Manchester United because it was just awful to think he would lose the game.”

You’re probably thinking about how good the outcome will be if you win. You win, and the feeling you get is incredible, just like when we played Chelsea in the Champions League final. But he continued, “I just got to know that the thought of losing at Anfield emotionally hit me quite a lot.”

Rooney continued, “It’s always a good feeling to win against Liverpool.”

I was a Liverpool fan when I first met Everton. I then moved to United and disliked Liverpool. He claimed that losing to Liverpool was a “good feeling.”

In the]2008 Champions League final, I believe we could have won them. I was so happy it wasn’t Liverpool in the semi-final because it was Chelsea-Letterman. I believe that watching Liverpool win the Champions League final would have been too much.

Rooney recalls that Ferguson, the manager of Manchester United, had told him he wouldn’t play him at Goodison Park or Anfield.