When Northern Ireland's first goal goes in, the packed crowd in Belfast's Windsor Park goes mad. "Are you England in disguise?" the fans sing at the opposition, Liechtenstein (population 34,000). Northern Ireland's football renaissance began here two years ago when they beat England 1-0.

Per capita, this country of 1.7m people now has the best national team on earth, say statisticians who adjust Fifa's rankings for size of population. If Northern Ireland survive in Latvia today and Iceland on Wednesday, then by November they could qualify for next year's European Championships. No European country that small has reached a major tournament since Northern Ireland themselves won a place in the 1986 World Cup. Yet that is not even the most remarkable thing. In the year that Northern Ireland's most rabid Roman Catholics and Protestants have formed a government together, the country's football fans - once horrible sectarians themselves - are officially Europe's nicest.