Simon Dalton presents his prediction for the World Cup qualifying match.
Less than a year on, they meet again: last autumn Luxembourg and Northern Ireland were fighting for promotion to League B of the UEFA Nations League. Northern Ireland came out on top.
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland won the group, helped by four points from their two meetings with Luxembourg — (2:0 and 2:2). The draw came in the final round, a result that suited Northern Ireland. This spring and summer they were tested in friendlies against Scandinavian national teams and Switzerland. The warm-ups largely went well. Only Sweden inflicted a heavy 5:1 defeat on them. Against the rest there was parity: W1 D1 L1 (GF 3, GA 3).
Luxembourg
Luxembourg sparkled in UEFA EURO 2024 qualifying, pushing Slovakia hard for second place. For the first time in their history they registered five wins in a single qualifying campaign. However, after falling short in the play-offs their results dipped. That has been most evident in the 2024/25 UEFA Nations League — no wins in six matches, bottom of League C and a return to the bottom tier, League D. In the June friendlies, Luxembourg came close to stopping two strong opponents — Slovenia (0:1) and Republic of Ireland (0:0). It looked as if things were stabilising, but in August Luc Holtz stepped down after 15 years to pursue an opportunity in German club football.
Luxembourg vs Northern Ireland Prediction
Luxembourg are now led by Jeff Strasser, a local icon with 98 caps, who has yet to make his debut, so it is unclear how quickly his ideas will take root. Northern Ireland look the steadier proposition and we are confident they will take at least a point from Luxembourg, but we expect a low-scoring game.
