(Photo by Richard Heathcote/GettyImages)
Northern Ireland has never had a better opportunity, but they completely squandered it by losing their home match today (September 9) to current group leader Slovakia.
This group has been very difficult to make predictions for, but Slovakia has managed to hold off the challengers and looks almost certain to clinch victory provided that they beat Slovenia (and even that may not be absolutely required).
Slovenia are currently five points behind the leader and their next match after Slovakia will be an away game against San Marino, a team that has lost all nine of their matches so far and has a goal deficit of -43.
So there is an almost certain chance that Slovenia can make up at least three more points there, and if they do happen to win against Slovakia it would put them in the lead by a margin of one point.
In that case, it will be absolutely essential for Slovakia to at least draw with Poland. Doing so should be enough to ensure that Slovakia achieves qualification unless Slovenia absolutely hammers San Marino.
A win over Poland would totally seal the deal, but as it will be an away game against a fairly competitive team, they may struggle.
The best thing for Slovakia, then, is to ensure that they defeat Slovenia and that will take most of the pressure off their shoulders.
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