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The full-time whistle at Windsor Park was met by jeers, which then turned to a loud round of applause.

The frustration was directed towards the match officials who left the field of play after adding only two minutes onto the end of 90 minutes, and waved away late appeals for a penalty.

The cheers, which soon drowned out the jeers, were for a young Northern Ireland side who had given everything and put Germany on the ropes in the closing stages of the 1-0 defeat in World Cup qualifying.

Ultimately, it came down to small margins.

What if Paddy McNair hadn’t strayed offside in the build-up to Dan Ballard’s disallowed effort?

What if the ball had bounced over or wide from Nick Woltemade’s shoulder, rather than into the net?

What if Callum Marshall’s chance had fallen on his stronger foot?

Those questions don’t change the result on the night, but they were the difference as a Germany side far from their vintage best got the job done to take charge of Group A.

“We’re disappointed and it’s a sore loss,” O’Neill, who was taking charge of his 100th game, said after the defeat.

“I thought in the first half we lacked a bit of belief with the ball. Germany forced their physicality on top of us, and it was difficult for us to get any rhythm in the game.

“The disallowed goal would have helped us at that point, but it was offside. We shouldn’t be offside in that situation so that’s an error on our part.”

O’Neill felt Woltemade’s first-half winner was a “freak goal” but said his players should have defended the corner better.

“It comes off the player’s shoulder and ends up in our net.

“That was the disappointing thing. But in the second half we were terrific. We just couldn’t force an equaliser in the end.

It is not the first time Northern Ireland’s young players had matched Germany after a battling 60 minutes in Cologne before the hosts pulled clear with a quickfire double.

The contrast this time was stark, as Northern Ireland piled the pressure on the German defence in an additional two minutes that ended all to quickly – a tally O’Neill described as “ridiculous”.

O’Neill also said that Northern Ireland missed the energy and quality of the suspended Bradley at right-back, but was delighted with the performance of his players in the second half.

Windsor Park was at its rip-roaring best on Monday to greet Germany and O’Neill said the home support “carried” his young squad as legs started to tire.

“We’re at home, that’s the biggest difference [to the reverse fixture].

“We’re at home and we’re chasing the game. We’ve put a huge amount into the game on Friday night [in a 2-0 win over Slovakia] and the crowd carried us tonight when we needed them to carry us.

Despite the loss, and his frustration, O’Neill still had time for a joke with a member of the German media.

“Having looked at the stats, ironically Germany played more long balls than us in the game,” he said.

For his part, Julian Nagelsmann, whose comments after the reverse fixture in Cologne prompted O’Neill’s quip, was relieved to get through a “tough” game.

“The second half was all about defending,” Nagelsmann told BBC Sport.

“As I said before the game it was a really tough opponent, a lot of long balls and they fight and we had to fight as well.

“It was a good step in the right direction to beat a team like Northern Ireland and to fight for second balls and be as tough as the opponent.”

Top spot in Group A is now a long shot given Germany have put their grasp on automatic qualification.

But second place and a guaranteed play-off is still on the cards ahead of November’s two qualifiers in Slovakia and home to bottom side Luxembourg.

It may not be much consolation now, but a play-off as one of four Nations League group winners seems to be a more secure fall back given other results across Europe, if Northern Ireland were to miss out on the top two.

Manchester United and Crystal Palace monitoring Jobe Bellingham, Arsenal and Manchester City among clubs interested in Nathaniel Brown, Chelsea’s pursuit of Adam Wharton intensifies.

Manchester United and Crystal Palace are monitoring Borussia Dortmund’s 20-year-old English midfielder Jobe Bellingham. (Bild – in German, subscription required)

Arsenal, Manchester City and Real Madrid are among the clubs interested in signing 22-year-old Germany defender Nathaniel Brown from Eintracht Frankfurt, but the Bundesliga club will not listen to offers until next summer. (Bild – in German)

If Eintracht Frankfurt do allow Brown – who does not have a release clause in his contract – to move, the German club will demand £52m. (Florian Plettenberg)

Chelsea’s pursuit of Crystal Palace’s Adam Wharton has intensified but they face competition from Manchester United for the 21-year-old England midfielder. (Teamtalk)

Turkey forward Kenan Yildiz, 21, is set to reject interest from Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United in favour of signing a new long-term contract Juventus. (Tuttosport – in Italian)

Manchester United are monitoring Germany and Bayern Munich midfielder Aleksandar Pavlovic, 21. (Football Insider)

Real Madrid are seriously considering selling Brazil winger Vinicius Junior, 25, next summer to a club in Saudi Arabia. (Sky Sports – in French)

Watford are exploring a deal for striker Emmanuel Dennis following his release by Nottingham Forest in August, with West Ham also tentatively interested in the 27-year-old Nigerian. (Mail)

Paris St-Germain have been told they will have to pay £52m for Roma’s 24-year-old France midfielder Manu Kone. (Corriere dello Sport – in Italian)

Northern Ireland boss Michael O’Neill said he was “disappointed” with the performance of the match officials in his side’s 1-0 World Cup qualifying defeat against Germany.

Newcastle United striker Nick Woltemade scored the winner in the first half with his first goal for Germany.

But O’Neill was frustrated at referee Jesus Gil Manzano deciding to add on just two minutes of injury time despite eight substitutions taking to the pitch and he also questioned some of the Spaniard’s other decisions.

“[He was] over fussy, I felt to give two minutes at the end of the game was incredible given the number of substitutions and stoppages,” O’Neill told BBC Sport NI’s Gavin Andrews.

O’Neill, who was taking charge of NI for the 100th time as manager, praised his players for “giving everything” but was ultimately left to rue poor defending from a corner that allowed Woltemade to score, albeit fortuitously as the ball bounced off his shoulder and into the net.

Dan Ballard had a goal disallowed in the first half, while Jamie Reid, Ethan Galbraith and Callum Marshal were among players who went close for an NI side that penned Germany back in the last quarter of the game.

“First half, we lacked a little bit of belief with the ball, but we were in the game and weren’t conceding a lot of chances,” he added.

“The goal was a freak goal; it comes off his shoulder. We should have defended it better.

“Second half we were well in it. It’s a game we should have gone ahead in; we have the goal disallowed for offside and we shouldn’t be offside.

“We had a chance or two at the end, Justin [Devenny] doesn’t settle himself to hit it, and Callum makes the goalkeeper make a save. Fatigue a bit at the end, but we couldn’t have asked for anymore and it’s just disappointing to lose the game.”

The defeat leaves Northern Ireland third in Group A, three points behind Germany and Slovakia.

They round off their campaign with an away game against Slovakia and a home match against Luxembourg next month.

O’Neill acknowledged that their trip to Kosice is a must-not-lose game to keep them in contention for finishing second in the group and securing a play-off.

England manager Thomas Tuchel has said there are “no limits” to Marcus Rashford’s potential, but warned the Barcelona forward not to end his career thinking “what could have been”.

Rashford is on a season-long loan at the Spanish champions from Manchester United and has scored three goals and added five assists in 10 games.

The 27-year-old impressed during a loan spell at Aston Villa last season and was called up to Tuchel’s first squad seven months ago despite not playing for England since March 2024.

England face Latvia in Riga on Tuesday knowing victory will guarantee qualification for next summer’s World Cup in Mexico, Canada and the United States.

Rashford, who scored two goals in the Champions League for Barca against Newcastle United, has fallen out of favour at Manchester United and is looking to get his career back on track away from his boyhood club.

In January, manager Ruben Amorim criticised Rashford for not showing the attitude of someone “giving the maximum every day”.

Tuchel pointed out that Rashford is still young enough to make the right decisions in his career “because otherwise, he will be disappointed in 10 years at what could have been and what he made of it”.

Barcelona boss Hansi Flick has been pleased with Rashford’s efforts so far though, calling him “unbelievable”. The La Liga club has the option of signing him on a permanent basis for £30m in 2026.

“I think the limit for him is very, very high. Maybe higher than for others,” said Tuchel. “He has the potential – but potential is a dangerous word with high-level sports.

“You have to reach your personal best on a regular basis – that is what is demanded on this kind of level, and that is the challenge for him.

“He can be one of the best in the world because the quality I see in training, the finishing with both legs and with the head.

“He is explosive, he is fast, he is strong in the air, so where are the limits?

Tuchel’s England side have come in for criticism since he took over as head coach from Gareth Southgate on 1 January.

In June, England were jeered after a laboured first-half display in the 1-0 win against Andorra, ranked 173rd in the world. The frustrating away performance was then followed by a bruising 3-1 friendly defeat by Senegal at Wembley Stadium three days later.

Despite this, England remain unbeaten in their World Cup qualifying campaign, and a 5-0 thumping of Serbia in Belgrade last month, plus an emphatic 3-0 win against Wales last week, showed glimpses of what the future might look like under the former Chelsea and Bayern Munich manager.

“It’s a pleasure to coach, a pleasure to watch at the moment. The effort against the ball against Wales was outstanding, especially the first half – they couldn’t escape their own half,” Tuchel said.

“We are setting the standards and the team are setting the standards. They are hungry – they show their hunger.

So we are getting there. There is always room for improvement, but it looks good at the moment.”

The Tennessee Titans have sacked head coach Brian Callahan following a disappointing start to the NFL season.

The Titans are bottom of the standings in the Southern Division of the American Football Conference (AFC) after five defeats and a solitary victory.

They were beaten 20-10 by the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday in what was 41-year-old Callahan’s final game at the helm.

Chad Brinker, the Titans’ president of football operations, said Callahan was a person of “great character” and “these decisions are never easy”.

“Our players, fans, and community deserve a football team that achieves a standard we are not currently meeting,” Brinker added.

“We are committed to making the hard decisions necessary to reach and maintain that standard.”

Beau Greaves emerged victorious from a 6-5 thriller against Luke Littler as she became the first woman to reach the final of the World Youth Championship.

Littler came into the tournament in Wigan on the back of his 6-1 demolition of world number one Luke Humphries in the World Grand Prix final on Sunday.

The 18-year-old had breezed through his three matches in the round-robin phase of the event, with wins over Dutchman Jeffrey Keen, Iceland’s Alexander Thorvaldsson and Belgium’s Matthias Moors.

However, the world champion put in a below-par last-16 display against fellow Englishman Charlie Manby.

Littler was on the brink of defeat at 5-3 down to the 20-year-old, before winning the next three legs, then rediscovered his touch in the quarter-finals with a 6-1 victory over Jamai van den Herik of the Netherlands.

Warrington teenager Littler found himself 2-1 down in the semi-final against Greaves but responded by winning three consecutive legs to seize the upper hand.

But three-time WDF women’s world champion Greaves – who is set to accept a PDC Tour card for 2026-27 – rallied to level the match at 4-4 and 5-5.

Greaves then blew Littler away in the decider as she threw an 11-dart leg – the 21-year-old from Doncaster sealing victory with a checkout of 80.

She will meet defending champion Gian van Veen in next month’s final after the Dutchman, 23, clinched a 6-4 win over Sebastian Bialecki of Poland in the other semi-final.

The World Youth Championship final will be played on 23 November in Minehead, before the Players Championship final on the same day.

Littler, who averaged 107.4 to Greaves’ 105, posted on Instagram after his defeat: “Fair play to Beau. All the best in Minehead. Some talent.”

Players aged between 16 and 24 are eligible to compete in the World Youth Championship.

Last 16

Luke Littler 6-5 Charlie Manby

Jamai van den Herik 6-3 Lok Yin Lee

Beau Greaves 6-4 Tyler Thorpe

Liam Maendl-Lawrance 6-2 Lewis Gurney

Gian van Veen 6-5 Aidan O’Hara

Cam Crabtree 6-5 Nunjo Dewaele

Keane Barry 6-3 Adam Gawlas

Sebastian Bialecki 6-5 Roy Rietbergen

Quarter-finals

Luke Littler 6-1 Jamai van den Herik

Beau Greaves 6-2 Liam Maendl-Lawrance

Gian van Veen 6-2 Cam Crabtree

Sebastian Bialecki 6-5 Keane Barry

Semi-finals

Beau Greaves 6-5 Luke Littler