Before you go, let me tell you about what else we have for you today.

You can follow live coverage of Saturday's Irish Premiership matches with in-play clips from all six matches and live radio coverage.

Rory McIlroy is in contention at the Irish Open on "moving day" - and you can follow the latest from the K Club too.

And tomorrow we'll be back with live coverage of Ireland's final Pool match at the Women's Rugby World Cup against New Zealand (kick-off 14:45 BST) and of course, with Germany against Northern Ireland with text build-up starting from 18:45 BST on the BBC Sport NI website.

Bye for now

Now we set our sights on matchday.

Germany v Northern Ireland - live on BBC One NI, BBC Two and BBC iPlayer from 19:30 BST tomorrow.

You can also find live radio coverage on Radio Ulster and BBC Sounds from 19:30 BST and the BBC Sport website will have all of the above plus text updates and in-play clips!

Ali McCann on the fans and reaching the World Cup finals:

"The fans have been brilliant for us and wherever we go, they follow us in huge numbers.

"As a player, getting to the World Cup is the pinnacle of football and something we dream about. We'll give it a go so you never know and we'll see."

O'Neill on Germany winless run:

"I would image Germany always play with pressure as expectation is always high. The players and the manager are used to that. I think sometimes when playing for your national team the criticism is more personal.

"The criticism that Germany have had, I'm sure if they need extra motivation they will get it from that.

On Slovakia's win over Germany:

"Slovakia winning that game is something we would have preferred not to happen but you have to congratulate them on that. We have to try and make sure we don't drop points in certain games."

"When we looked at the group, this is the hardest place we will come to play so if we can take points that'll be great."

Ali McCann on winning his 30th cap against Germany:

"It takes a while to get used to the tempo of international football. You have to be at 100% concentration all the time but for me personally, it's been great and really looking forward to tomorrow night."

On playing alongside Steven Davis:

"It was unreal for me. The majority of my early caps were alongside him and he guided me through. He was a real role model for me growing up and perfect for me coming into the side.

On new midfield partner Shea Charles:

"He's a real driving force for the side. Delight he got his goal and deserved it. He is a pleasure to play with - as are the whole team."

NI manager Michael O'Neill on the challenge of facing Germany:

"There's an excitement from me personally to see where my team are. It's a big step up for us. We don't have many Premier League players with most of our squad in the Championship and League One but we have real resilience and desire to do well.

"We have to punch above our weight. We played Germany when they were world championship and while they may not be at that moment right now, we'll face a really tough side."

Northern Ireland manager Michael O'Neill is joined by midfielder Ali McCann for the press conference.

The pair have taken their seats so hit "Watch now" above to follow the latest.

"If anything it'll make the game a lot harder."

That was Northern Ireland goalscorer Jamie Reid's assessment when he discovered that Germany had lost their opening qualifier to Slovakia on Thursday.

Northern Ireland have face Germany nine times since a 1-1 draw in 1996... and they've lost all of them.

Yet rarely during that 29-year period will Sunday's hosts in Cologne have come into the fixture under such pressure. Julian Nagelsmann's side have not won since beating Italy in the first leg of their Nations League quarter-final in March.

While losses to France and Portugal hardly sparked talk of crisis, Thursday night's surprise defeat to Slovakia to start their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign has been viewed differently.

You can read more from Jonathan Bradley, our man in Cologne, on our Northern Ireland men's football page on the BBC Sport website and app.

Image source, Getty Images

Jonathan Bradley
BBC Sport NI senior journalist in Cologne

I'm nestled in the RheinEnergieStadion in Cologne, awaiting the arrival of manager Michael O'Neill.

Joining him we are told is midfielder Ali McCann. Frequently it is the team captain who joins the manager at these official matchday-minus-one press conferences (on Wednesday in Luxembourg it was Trai Hume) but that doesn't mean Mr McCann will wear the armband on Sunday.

We should find out more imminently.

Image source, BBC Sport

Northern Ireland defender Conor Bradley said that manager Michael O'Neill "had a little bit of a go" at his players at half-time in their 3-1 win against 10-man Luxembourg.

O'Neill's side went in level at 1-1 at the break at the Stade de Luxembourg after Jamie Reid's opener was cancelled out by Aiman Dardari.

And Bradley believes an animated half-time team talk from O'Neill sparked an improved second-half display from NI, which yielded two more goals from Shea Charles and Justin Devenny and a precious three points to start their World Cup qualifying campaign.

"We started the first half really quick, and it was the same second half. Michael had a little bit of a go at us at half-time, it wasn't good enough, rightly so, but we came out all guns blazing second half," he told BBC Sport NI's Gavin Andrews.

"I think we made it difficult for ourselves, we could have played better but second half I think we played some good stuff, and it obviously helped when they went down to 10 men, it made it a bit easier from there and it is nice to get a 3-1 win, its brilliant for us."

Image source, Getty Images

And now let's hear from the manager on that opening win.

Let's start with the action.

Four goals, a red card and a missed penalty... but the most important stat is three points for Northern Ireland.

While we are waiting on Michael O'Neill, let's have a look back on Thursday night's win and some of the reaction from the 3-1 victory over Luxembourg.

Image source, Getty Images

After an opening win against Luxembourg on Thursday, can Northern Ireland make it two wins from two?

They face four-time World Cup winners Germany on Sunday in Cologne, a game that you can watch, listen and follow across the BBC.

We'll hear from NI manager Michael O'Neill shortly ahead of the game and you will be able to watch that news conference here on this page from 14:00 BST.

Image source, Getty Images