Northern Ireland Vs. Slovenia: 0-0 Halftime, A Dull Affair Thus Far

Unless your idea of football is ankle injuries and dudes getting elbowed in the face, you probably wouldn’t find the Euro 2012 qualifying match between Northern Ireland and Slovenia to be particularly entertaining. It’s been kind of crap, to be honest, but it’s not like anything more should have been expected from these two teams. Slovenia play a very rigid and defensive style of football, while Northern Ireland are simply not very good going forward.

After their loss to Italy, Slovenia are in need of a win here. Serbia will be climbing up the Group C table, and they’re currently 1-0 up on Estonia. Slovenia have good forward-thinking players, even with the injury to Josep Ilicic, and their back line should be able to handle the Northern Ireland attack without a whole lot of defensive assistance from the midfield. They will lack ambition in the second half at their own peril.