Northern Ireland suffered their first defeat in World Cup Qualifying Group C on Tuesday night when they lost 2-0 to World champions Germany but goalkeeper Michael McGovern feels that there is plenty of positives to take out of the game.
When the sides met during the Euros in France this summer, McGovern produced a world class display to keep the Germans at bay. The Enniskillen man was in fine form again in Hanover on Tuesday night but he was not near as busy as he had been during that previous meeting while he believes that Northern Ireland carried more of a threat in an attacking sense too.
“There are positives to take out of it,” said the Norwich City netminder. “We looked better going forward than we did when we played them in the Euros and we didn’t let them in behind us as much as we did at the Euros as well so there is improvements there. We’re obviously disappointed to lose the game but I don’t see many teams going there in our group and getting a result. There is no shame in getting beaten by the World champions.”
Things looked ominous for Northern Ireland when Julian Draxler and Sami Khedira had the Germans two goals up inside the opening 17 minutes. However, Michael O’Neill’s charges dug in when, McGovern feels, many others would have fallen apart.
“Other teams would have crumbled being 2-0 down after 15 minutes but we showed character to stay in the game and if we had got a goal we would have been right back in it,” he said.
The result leaves Northern Ireland on four points from their opening three games, three points behind second placed Azerbaijan, who are the visitors to Windsor Park for the next round of fixtures next month. There is then a four month break before Northern Ireland face Norway at home in March.
“Our focus now has quickly changed to the Azerbaijan game,” said McGovern. “It has been a decent start for us and we have an opportunity next month against Azerbaijan to go and win that game and move into second place.We know it will be tough, as you have seen by their start to the campaign, they have improved massively but we are at home and we will be looking to win that one going into the break. If we can win that it will put us in a strong position in the group and it would be nice to be up there towards the top of the group for those months without a fixture.”
Germany sit in top spot and in reality that is where they are expected to stay which leaves the rest battling for second place.
“The battle is for second place and I think that has always been the case in the group. We are not naive enough to think that it is going to be any different than that but we have put ourselves in a good position to go and get that second place now. Obviously this Azerbaijan fixture is very important in trying to get that,” added McGovern.
Northern Ireland have shown great improvement in recent years and having experienced the Euros, McGovern would love the opportunity to play at a World Cup.
“I think over the last two years - and you can include the Euros in that - we have been going into games expecting to get results as opposed to hoping to get results and it has given us great confidence. The whole experience of the Euros gave us a taste of tournament football and we want to go to the World Cup now and experience it again and enjoy it like we did.”
And it is not just with Northern Ireland that McGovern is shining. The Fermanagh man moved to Championship side Norwich City in the summer and is loving life at Carrow Road with the Canaries sitting second in the table.
“I’m really enjoying my football just now. Things are going well at Norwich, I’m playing in the team regularly and the team has been playing well. 
“To be playing in fantastic stadiums and in front of big houses is thoroughly enjoyable.
“I’ve worked hard to get to this level and I want to try and stay in the team and help them win as many games as possible. I want to keep enjoying the experience,” he said.