Northern Ireland senior women’s team boss Michael McArdle has insisted his players will have a positive approach in their two World Cup qualifiers this month.
McArdle’s side are set to take on Turkiye at the Pendik Stadyumu in Istanbul later today (6pm kick-off BST) and then it’s back to Mourneview Park in Lurgan for a match against Switzerland on Tuesday (9 June).
The Northern Ireland manager promised his side are fully focused on taking all three points against the Turks.
The two upcoming matches will determine where Northern Ireland finish in League B Group 2 in stage one of the European qualifiers for FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027 in Brazil.
The girls in green and white currently sit third in the table on six points from four games. The Swiss lead the way with 10 points from four qualifiers, while Turkiye have seven points. Malta prop up the B2 table with zero points so far.
It is likely top seeds Switzerland will be at the summit once the teams have completed their six games in B2, which means second seeds Northern Ireland and third seeds Turkiye are effectively battling it out for second place.
All three countries will face two rounds of play-offs in October and November/December for berths at next year’s World Cup, however McArdle is keen to finish as high as possible in B2 to improve Northern Ireland’s seeding in future competitions.
Back in March, when Kris Lindsay was the interim manager, Northern Ireland’s senior women were defeated 1-0 by Turkiye in Lurgan in the second game of their FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027 qualifying campaign. That result came after Switzerland defeated Lindsay’s side 2-0 in Lausanne in their campaign opener.
Since then McArdle, who was appointed to the full-time manager’s role following the March international window, has overseen home and away wins against Malta.
He said: “The six points in the last camp gives us a great platform to actually go and increase the bravery and learn a wee bit more.
“We’ve got the play-off secured now so the most important thing is we can look ahead to the next window after this with a bit of confidence that we can use these two games to test ourselves.”
The senior women’s team boss feels Turkiye will be tough opponents in Istanbul.
He pointed out: “Turkiye are a nation that are accelerating at an exceptional speed. They have quality. You can see the change across their national pathway. They are getting better very quickly. We need to respect that.
“We saw at Mourneview how difficult they can be to break down. They also had a couple of excellent performances against Switzerland.”
But McArdle added that his players are relishing the challenge of taking on the Turks on their home turf.
He revealed: “We want to reverse the previous scoreline. We want to get three points out here. That’s the intention we have come out with.”
Galatasary Gain midfielder Ebru Topcu is one of the stars of the Turkish team. She has netted 25 goals in her 98 appearances for her country. And fellow midfielders Ece Turkoglu (58 caps) and Busem Seker (52 caps), who both play for Fenerbache Women in Turkiye, also weigh in with goals. Turkoglu has netted 10 times and Seker has scored seven at senior international level.
Most of the Turkiye squad ply their trade in their homeland, however they do have a handful of talented players who operate in other leagues across Europe. They include midfielder Miray Cin of German side Borussia Monchengladbach (40 caps, three goals), West Ham United midfielder Halle Houssein (six caps) and midfielder Selen Gul Altunkulak (18 caps, 10 goals), who plays in France for FC Toulouse.
And up front Kader Hancer of Mexican side Club Tijuana has notched 11 goals in 37 appearances.
The strong core of home-based players includes Ankara BB Fomget goalkeeper Selda Akgoz (62 caps), Fenerbache defender Ipek Kaya (41 caps), Galatasary defender Eda Karatas (35 caps), Besiktas defenders Ilayda Civelek (50 caps, two goals) and Gulbin Hiz (56 caps, five goals) plus Galatasary attacker Melike Pekel (34 caps, seven goals).
Today’s game is being livestreamed on the BBC Sport NI website and app as well as the BBC iPlayer. You can also follow it on @NorthernIreland social channels.
Tickets are still available for Tuesday’s game against Switzerland in Lurgan (6pm kick-off) at irishfa.com/tickets.
