Northern Ireland go to Lille on 8 June to face France in a friendly that feels bigger than the label suggests. The match at the Decathlon Arena - Stade Pierre-Mauroy, scheduled for 8.10pm BST, is France’s final preparation game before their World Cup campaign begins, and it gives Michael O’Neill’s team a chance to measure themselves against the world’s number one side.
The search for this fixture is about more than a venue and a kickoff time. It is about a France Vs Northern Ireland meeting that offers players outside the Premier League a rare stage to show they can handle elite opposition, with France due to play Senegal on 16 June in their first group game. For Northern Ireland, it comes straight after last Thursday’s 1-0 win over Guinea, secured by a Tom Atcheson goal, a result built on plenty of possession in Spain.
O’Neill is not pretending the challenge will be comfortable. He said Northern Ireland probably have to be a badly-behaved guest and try to make the night difficult for France, because the hardest part for any player is keeping self-belief when the game is played at that level against those opponents. He added that the contest will let his squad judge themselves individually and as a team, and that those who do not live in the Premier League every week get a chance to prove they can play and cope at the top level.
That is the friction inside the trip to Lille. Northern Ireland were patient and controlled against Guinea, but O’Neill expects them to spend long spells without the ball against France, a side whose forward line and back line carry the weight of some of Europe’s biggest clubs and most seasoned internationals. France’s squad depth underlines the size of the task: Kylian Mbappe has 56 goals in 97 games for his country, Lucas Digne is the most capped defender in the group with 57 caps, and N’Golo Kante brings 68 caps of his own.
For Northern Ireland, the night is less about the result than the standard it sets. If O’Neill’s side can make France uncomfortable in Lille, they will leave with something more useful than a scoreline: evidence that they can live with the best when the ball is not theirs and the margin for error has gone.
