A stunning strike from Isaac Price was not enough for Northern Ireland as second-half goals earned Germany a 3-1 World Cup qualifying win to ease the pressure on Julian Nagelsmann.
Price’s 34th-minute volley cancelled out an early goal from Serge Gnabry and gave Northern Ireland genuine hope of getting something out of the game, but quick-fire goals from the substitute Nadiem Amiri and Liverpool’s £116m man Florian Wirtz settled it midway through the second half.
But though Northern Ireland left Cologne defeated, for long spells they were the ones causing Germany problems in a performance that can serve as another marker for this young side. Germany came into the contest reeling from Thursday’s shock 2-0 defeat in Slovakia, their third consecutive defeat leading to stinging criticism of Nagelsmann in the German press.
They quickly set about dominating the ball in the early stages and took a seventh-minute lead through Gnabry, Northern Ireland’s nemesis six years ago when he scored a hat-trick in a 6-1 win in Frankfurt. After Eoin Toal lost the ball, Nick Woltemade quickly played in Gnabry, who barged his way past Justin Devenny before lifting the ball over the goalkeeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell.
Newcastle’s new striker Woltemade had a couple of opportunities himself as the one-way traffic continued, with Northern Ireland in danger of getting overrun. Instead the response was excellent.
Price’s quick feet forced Antonio Rüdiger into a cynical block which earned the Real Madrid man a yellow card. It also shifted the dynamic. Paddy McNair headed over from Devenny’s corner before Price nicked the ball away from Rüdiger to spark another attack.
That one ended with a second corner, again sent in by Devenny and met superbly on the volley by Price at the far post, levelling the scores with his eighth Northern Ireland goal in his past nine appearances, and 10th overall at the age of just 21. Germany suddenly looked nervous as Northern Ireland found fresh energy, and half-time was greeted with shrill whistles from the frustrated home support.
Germany did not look any more settled to start the second half. Goalkeeper Oliver Baumann flapped at another Devenny corner and it took a good 10 minutes before the hosts started to exert any control, with Jamie Leweling firing wide from distance.
Peacock-Farrell then made a double save, keeping out David Raum’s shot from the edge of the area, then kicking clear Pascal Gross’s strike on the rebound. Moments later, Waldemar Anton headed over from a free-kick.
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The pressure was ramping up as Trai Hume blocked Joshua Kimmich’s powerful strike before Peacock-Farrell, who became only the third goalkeeper to reach 50 caps for Northern Ireland, adjusted smartly to stop Wirtz’s effort on the line.
A second goal was coming and arrived in the 69th minute. When Raum swept the ball forward from deep both Peacock-Farrell and Toal followed the run of Maximilian Beier and waited for the other to deal with it, but instead the ball ran for fellow substitute Amiri to tap into an empty net.
All of Northern Ireland’s hard work was coming undone, and just four minutes later Wirtz – largely anonymous for much of the night – thumped in an excellent free-kick to put the game out of Northern Ireland’s reach.
