Northern Ireland made footballing history on Thursday, with their comfortable win over the group's basement side Greece ensuring they booked their place at the European Championships for the first time ever. As a result, they'll be in celebratory spirits for their dead rubber of a final group game in Helsinki, where they'll take on a Finland side for whom qualification is a mathematical impossibility.
Finland vs. Northern Ireland live stream: Time, TV schedule and how to watch Euro qualifying online
Northern Ireland will be in celebratory mood ahead of their trip to Finland on Sunday, having already booked their place at Euro 2016.
Charles McQuillan/Getty Images
It hasn't been a terrible campaign for the Scandinavian side, whose wins over Greece and the Faroe Islands were their first competitive consecutive victories since 2007. However, 11 points from their nine games has left them an unassailable four points adrift of third-placed Hungary, and means that their wait for a first-ever major international tournament goes on. They'll still be hoping to salvage some pride from this game, and give themselves a boost heading into their next qualification attempt.
Key factor: Which side will be more experimental?
This game could be simply determined by who cares more. With neither side having anything of material consequence to play for, it could well be that the coaches elect to switch things around, perhaps affording game time to players who’ve been on the sidelines throughout much of their qualifying campaigns. It means we could see an unpredictable and hopefully free-flowing encounter between players who still feel they have something to prove.
When they last met: Northern Ireland 2-1 Finland, March 29, 2015
These sides only met back in March, when Northern Ireland came away with a 2-1 victory. It was a surprisingly close game with the Finns enjoying the lion's share of possession. But two first half goals in the space of five minutes from Northern Ireland's top scorer Kyle Lafferty meant Berat Sadik's strike in stoppage time at the end of the match was nothing more than a consolation goal.
Match Date/Time: Sun., Noon ET, 7 p.m. local
Venue: Helsinki Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland
TV: Fox Sports 1 (US), Sportsnet World (Canada), Sky Sports 1/HD (U.K.)
Online: Fox Sports Go, Fox Soccer 2Go (US), Sportsnet World Now (Canada), Sky Go (U.K.)
See More:
