Release Date: 25/05/2010

NORTHERN Ireland’s Stephen Craigan has described being named as captain for the team’s two game tour as a ‘wonderful honour.’

The 33-year-old will lead the side out for the first time against Turkey at the Veterans Stadium in New Britain on Wednesday; with the team then travelling to Santiago to take on Chile at the Estadio Municipal de Chillan on Sunday.

“When I was younger I never even thought that I’d get the opportunity to play for my country,” said Craigan.  “I have always looked at it as a privilege to get selected and to play for Northern Ireland.  Some people may say, the games are in America and Chile and it doesn’t mean anything, but come and stand in my shoes on Wednesday afternoon when I’m leading the team out and on Sunday as well.  It’s a wonderful honour for me and I know that my family back home are all chuffed and really proud.”

With the exception of Craigan and Gareth McAuley, Nigel Worthington has taken somewhat of a youthful squad with him to America due to regular senior players being unavailable for the trip.  However, the captain believes that the tour provides other players with an opportunity to show the manager what they are capable of.

“I know people would ask, would you rather be here or on holiday; I think all the players have shown their commitment and have said we would rather be here, we want to play for Northern Ireland, we want to try and do well, we want to get some more caps and try and lay a little marker down to the manager that they don’t just want to be part of the squad but that they all want to play,” he said.

Looking ahead to the game against Turkey, Craigan added: “On Wednesday I want to go out and do well and obviously the team wants to do well and we will be looking to get a positive result.”   

The game against Turkey kicks-off at 1.30pm; with the match against Chile kicking-off at 3.15pm (both local times).  The two games will be shown live on Setanta Ireland.

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