Northern Ireland gave it their all in Lille last night, but were put to the sword by a ruthless attacking display from Bayern Munich’s Michael Olise, as Didier Deschamps bade farewell to the home crowd before his French side says farewell to him as manager after the World Cup. Michael O’Neill’s side absorbed enormous amounts of pressure from a French side determined to give the home crowd something to enjoy before they jet off to the United States; especially considering they lost their last game to the Ivory Coast last Thursday evening. Deschamps started an attacking quartet that scored 104 goals for their clubs combined this season; Desire Doue, Ballon D’or winning Ousmane Dembele, the irresistible Kylian Mbappe, and the aforementioned Olise. France created 27 shots last night, in comparison to Northern Ireland’s 4, and Les Bleus’ eventual breakthrough came from Olise two minutes from half-time, before striking again four minutes after the restart with a half-volley that sank any chance of Northern Ireland getting an historic result. They did get a goal back via Barnsley’s Patrick Kelly, but Olise got his hat-trick with 15 minutes to play, meaning that Deschamps’ side get the perfect send-off. Michael O’Neill said this in his post-match press conference:
It was a huge test for us coming here against the best international squad in the world in terms of the depth and options
Northern Ireland are next in action whenever the first international break of the 2026/27 season occurs in September and October, they’ll play four matches in their UEFA Nations League group against Georgia, Hungary, Ukraine and a second match against Georgia. Meanwhile for France, their opening game at the FIFA World Cup is against Senegal in New Jersey next Tuesday night; they face Iraq and Norway in their other two Group I games. The tournament will be Deschamps’ swansong; he will step down as manager after the tournament after leading his country to two World Cup finals in 2018 and 2022, the former they won, and a European Championship final in 2016 on home soil.
