Michael O’Neill is adamant Northern Ireland will be playing to win when they take on Luxembourg in Belfast tonight.
Even though Northern Ireland have already secured a World Cup play-off, and are guaranteed to finish third in Group A of the European qualifiers for FIFA World Cup 2026, the Northern Ireland boss insists three points is the goal.
The 1-0 defeat to Slovakia in Kosice on Friday night means Northern Ireland have six points from their five qualifiers to date, while Luxembourg have failed to register a single point. Germany and Slovakia (both on 12 points) will slug it out in Leipzig tonight to see who will qualify automatically from Group A for the finals in North America next summer.
“We are at home and we want to win it. It's important to finish on nine points in the group,” O’Neill says in his Manager’s View column in the matchday programme for the qualifier at the Clearer Twist National Stadium at Windsor Park (7.45 start).
He further points out: “This is our last game before we take part in the play-offs, so there's some things we need to look at. It was a tough game in Slovakia, and a few players picked up knocks, so we will definitely freshen the team up tonight.
“And we will pick a team to try to win the game to give us a confidence boost ahead of the play-offs in March.”
Goalkeeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell is struggling with an injury and striker Jamie Reid has a back problem.
The pair featured in Friday’s game in Kosice along with Daniel Ballard and George Saville, who are both suspended for the game against Luxembourg. Defender Ballard was sent off in Slovakia, while midfielder Saville picked up his second yellow of the campaign – and that triggers a suspension.
Four Northern Ireland players are currently on single yellow cards – Trai Hume, Justin Devenny, Josh Magennis and Reid – so the Northern Ireland boss may be tempted to rest them tonight as any suspension generated by two yellows would carry over to the play-offs in March.
In his programme notes O’Neill says he was disappointed with the result against the Slovakians, whom Northern Ireland defeated 2-0 in Belfast last month.
He points out: “We were disappointed to lose the game and lose it so late on. It was a scrappy game and there was not a lot in it. The teams were pretty evenly matched.”
And he adds: “Given that we are a very young team in certain areas, and we were missing some important players, plus the fact that Slovakia are an experienced international side with some very good players who were at their strongest, I thought we did extremely well in the circumstances.
“We wanted to prove that we could go to Kosice and get what we needed. We wanted to finish in second place in the group. We are, of course, not able to do that now. That’s our disappointment more than anything else.
“However, if you look at our result in Kosice in the grand scheme of things, finishing second in the group would just have moved us up a pot in the draw for the World Cup play-offs which is being held in Switzerland later this week. And, let’s be realistic, you're always going to face tough teams in the play-offs anyway.
“I think come March we’ll be stronger than we were in Slovakia and we’ll be ready for the play-offs. I have no doubt about that.”
Tonight’s World Cup qualifier is being shown live on BBC Two Northern Ireland, BBC Three and BBC iPlayer. There will also be commentary on BBC Radio Ulster and BBC Sounds. And you can follow it on Northern Ireland social channels.
