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UEFA Euro betting odds: At BookMaker Sportsbook, our team of writers breaks down every betting matchup on the wagering board. Cash in on some serious Euro 2016 lines by identifying the latest trends, statistics and injuries in each betting preview at BookMaker. Northern Ireland is one of the potential sweetheart teams of Euro 2016 and certainly shouldn't be taken lightly.
All hail the Belfast Brawlers! Northern Ireland is often forgotten as a country, let alone as a soccer nation. This nation is often grouped in with Ireland or the United Kingdom, and it has always been regarded as no better than fifth best in soccer in the UK. Fifth best though, was good enough to reach the Euros for the very first time, and you can bet the Green and White Army will be out en masse in France in hopes to get Northern Ireland into the knockout rounds.
You can find great prices on Northern Ireland and each of the 24 teams at Euro 2016 by checking out our soccer odds at BookMaker.eu.
NORTHERN IRELAND PROFILE
Odds To Win Euro 2016: +30000
Team Nickname: Green and White Army
Head Coach: Michael O'Neill
FIFA World Ranking: 28
HOW THEY GOT HERE
What a story Northern Ireland is! It entered qualifying in Pot 5 along with teams like Macedonia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Cyprus, and everyone in Group F had to smile at the possibility of what should've been three easy points, at least for the teams with a shot to qualify.
But a funny thing happened at that point. The Green and White Army picked up three road wins leading to a pair of six-point sweeps of Greece and the Faroe Islands, and they got four points from games against Hungary and Finland. Sure, the matches against Romania didn't go well, but that didn't matter in the grand scheme of things. Kyle Lafferty led Group F in goals during qualifying with seven, and the man who was second best in goals was Gareth McAuley, who found the back of the net three times.
KEY PLAYERS
Lafferty is arguably the most important player in the history of Northern Ireland soccer. He's got 16 goals in his career in just 46 matches, making him the second leading scorer all-time for the Green and White Army.
Aaron Hughes is the most Capped player amongst the active members of the team with 96, and both he and Steven Davis were named to the best Starting XI for Northern Ireland in a poll taken last year.
Roy Carroll plays his soccer at Notts County in England's fourth division. The club is in a sad state of affairs that it needs a 38-year old journeyman to man its pipes, but this really is a bigger indictment to Northern Ireland. Carroll is the best goalie on the roster, and you can bet that he's going to be peppered time and time again in his first major tournament in his career. That said, Carroll did appear for Manchester United as a reserve goalie back in 2001-2005, so he does know what the big matches are like, and he'll have to channel that to perform well for his homeland.
EURO 2016 ODDS ANALYSIS AND PREDICTION
Northern Ireland Elimination Odds
Group Stage -278
Round of 16 +285
Quarterfinals +1000
Semifinals +4800
Runner Up +12500
Good luck with this group, Northern Ireland. This team is easily figured to be knocked out of Euro 2016 at the group stage due to the fact that it's sure to be getting at least two goals against Germany and likely a similar spread to Poland. A match against Ukraine is sure to be incredibly tough as well. Considering the fact that all three of those teams are odds-on favorites to advance into the knockout rounds, that bodes poorly for Northern Ireland.
But hey, if we learned nothing else about this team over the course of the last couple years as it qualified for this tournament, it's that anything is possible. Maybe Irish eyes will be turned to the north and smile on the Green and White Army. However, even getting a single point would be a heck of a feat for a club which has to be happy just to get 270 minutes of international soccer for the first time since the 1986 World Cup.
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