McArdle: NI's World Cup hopes now impossible

A four-goal deficit heading into any second leg is brutal. In a one-off home-and-away play-off with a World Cup spot on the line, it's about as close to game over as football gets without the final whistle actually confirming it.

McArdle didn't dress it up. Speaking after the result, he conceded the gap between the sides had been laid bare over 90 minutes, and that clawing back four goals against a Portugal side with that kind of quality in hand is not something he's prepared to pretend is realistic. It's the kind of honesty managers usually save for after the job's already gone.

A gulf exposed

The scoreline tells its own story. Four goals without reply against a Portugal team that have been steadily building their women's programme in recent cycles is the sort of gap that doesn't get explained away by one bad night alone. Northern Ireland came into this play-off hoping to build on their growing international profile, but found themselves outclassed from a position they'll need time to properly unpick.

No detail has emerged yet on exactly how the game unravelled. What's clear is the end result, and the mountain now facing Northern Ireland in the second leg.

What's left to play for

The second leg will still be played out in full. For Northern Ireland, there's professional pride on the line and nothing more, with McArdle's own words making clear he isn't selling his players a false hope he doesn't believe in himself.

A 4-0 deficit from the first leg is what his players now have to overturn, with the manager already on record calling the task impossible.