What do Northern Ireland need in the Nations League?
Nations League Group B1: Bosnia & Herzegovina v Northern IrelandVenue: FF BH Football Training Centre, Zenica Date: Tuesday, 3 June Kick-off: 18:00 BSTCoverage: Watch live on BBC iPlayer and follow live text commentary & in-play clips on the BBC Sport website
Northern Ireland's hopes of automatic promotion to League A in the Nations League came to an end after Friday's 4-0 defeat by Poland. However, despite the heavy loss in Belfast, they still have a shot at winning promotion from League B for the first time. They take on Bosnia-Herzegovina in a showdown for second place in Group B1 on Tuesday. BBC Sport takes a look at what is at stake in Zenica.
How things stand
Here's a look at how things stand in Group B1 in the Nations League. With their win in Belfast, Euro 2025-bound Poland secured an automatic return to League A at the first time of asking. That leaves Northern Ireland and Bosnia-Herzegovina in a shootout on Tuesday to determine who will secure the promotion play-off place.Second spot in the group books a promotion play-off with a third-placed team in League A.Third means a relegation play-off against a League C side in the autumn.Romania can still finish on seven points, but due to their head-to-head record against Northern Ireland (something we will get into in a moment) they cannot move past Tanya Oxtoby's side into second place.
What do Northern Ireland need?
Northern Ireland's fate is still in their own hands heading into the final fixture.That is largely down to their dramatic 3-2 win over the Bosnians at Inver Park in February.In short, avoiding defeat in Zenica would be enough to secure second place and not bring any further permutations into play.However, if Tanya Oxtoby's side were to lose on Tuesday, then we start moving down the checklist of tiebreakers. While in other competitions it is goal difference that splits the sides, in the Nations League there is different criteria. If teams are level on points, the first determining factor is the number of points in the matches between the sides. In the event Bosnia-Herzegovina win, then it would be a victory apiece and goal difference in the two matches would be the determining factor.If the Bosnians were to win by a two-goal margin or more then they would leapfrog Northern Ireland. If things are still level after that, it comes down to goals scored in the two matches.In the unlikely event the two sides cannot be separated at this point, which would only occur with a 3-2 win by the hosts, then overall goal difference in all six matches comes into play.Bosnia-Herzegovina currently hold the advantage here on minus three, one better off than Northern Ireland.As we said, the cleanest outcome is Northern Ireland win or draw on Tuesday, but the Nations League is known for its drama and there will be plenty of tension in the game.
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