Defeat by Germany ‘a missed opportunity’ for NI

Northern Ireland defender Paddy McNair says Monday’s 1-0 defeat by Germany in World Cup qualifying was a “missed opportunity”.

Nick Woltemade’s first-half goal, which came off the shoulder of the Newcastle United striker from a corner, was decisive at Windsor Park.

Northern Ireland pressed for an equaliser and had chances through Shea Charles, Callum Marshall and Justin Devenny to level.

The narrow defeat by Germany leaves Michael O’Neill’s side third in Group A but the possibility of a World Cup play-off remains.

“I’ve played against Germany teams in the past who are much better than them and have better players as well,” said McNair.

“So I do feel it’s a missed opportunity.”

The performance of referee Jesus Gil Manzano drew criticism from the home crowd and team, and the Spanish official waved away a last-gasp penalty appeal when Josh Magennis fell in the area at a corner.

However, what annoyed NI the most was the decision to add just two additional minutes at the end of the second half – a decision O’Neill called “ridiculous”.

“I’ve never seen that in my life. I’ve played hundreds of games and I’ve never seen two minutes,” added McNair.

“I don’t know the reason for it. There’s six, seven subs, is there? Usually it’s, what, 30 seconds per sub, so it should be at least four minutes, shouldn’t it?”.

San Diego defender McNair says there will always be an element of “you never know” but “we definitely would have had a couple more chances if there was a few more minutes added on”.

“I thought the second half performance was good. They were good first half, to be fair.

“They had a good game plan, and it felt like they switched the game a lot which couldn’t really let us press them.

“I thought we definitely took the game to them. We’re just so close. That’s what it felt like.”