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Northern Ireland's Michael O'Neill laments "hugely frustrating" defeat

O'Neill laments defeat
© PA Photos
Michael O'Neill admits that he is "hugely frustrated" with Northern Ireland's performance against Israel in Belfast.

Northern Ireland coach Michael O'Neill has expressed his disappointment at his side's defeat to Israel in their World Cup qualifier on Tuesday.

Late goals from Lior Refaelov and Eden Ben Basat saw O'Neill's team lose the Group F encounter 2-0 at Windsor Park in Belfast.

"It's hugely disappointing, hugely frustrating," Sky Sports News quotes O'Neill as saying. "I felt we controlled large portions of the game again, certainly in the first half I thought some of our play was excellent, we created some good chances which we didn't take and we were punished twice on the counter-attack towards the end.

"Again we make life difficult for ourselves to be honest. It's just a case of when we've been in a strong position in games, when we've dominated possession, we've never capitalised on that.

"We've missed chances at important parts of the game and ultimately we've been punished when we've given the other team a bit of initiative. We have to start winning games, we have to get a winning mentality into this group of players."

Northern Ireland are now fourth in the group with three points from five matches.

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Friday, July 5
 
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Spain
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Portugal
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Saturday, July 6
 
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Group A

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Germany Germany32107
Q Switzerland Switzerland31205
3 Hungary Hungary31023
4 Scotland flag Scotland30121

Group B

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Q Spain Spain33009
Q Italy Italy31114
3 Croatia Croatia30212
4 Albania national flag Albania30121

Group C

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Q England flag England31205
Q Denmark Denmark30303
Q Slovenia Slovenia30303
4 Serbia Serbia30212

Group D

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Q Austria Austria32016
Q France France31205
Q Netherlands Netherlands31114
4 Poland Poland30121

Group E

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Q Romania Romania31114
Q Belgium Belgium31114
Q Slovakia Slovakia31114
4 Ukraine Ukraine31114

Group F

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Portugal Portugal32016
Q Turkey Turkey32016
Q Georgia Georgia31114
4 Czech Republic Czech Republic30121


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