Germany advanced to the knockout rounds of the EURO as winners of Group C thanks to a 1-0 win over Northern Ireland on Tuesday.
Mario Gomez scored the lone goal for the reigning World Cup champions, who next face the third-placed team from Group A, B or F.
The loss leaves Northern Ireland as a third-placed team with three points, and they’ll need the third placed team from D, E, or F to finish below them. If they are tied with three points, Norn Iron needs to hope for an opponent with a negative goal difference.
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Germany had the lion’s share of possession and danger, as expected, in the early stages but failed to finish. Thomas Muller belted a bouncing shot across goal and wide of the goal by mere inches.
Muller then dove to head a ball wide of the near post in the 27th minute, and a goal seemed imminent.
And it was as Mario Gomez finished the relentless work of Muller to put a deflected offering home.