Michael O'Neill: Northern Ireland feeling positive ahead of World Cup qualifiers
Isaac Price fired O'Neill's side in front after 36 minutes and later made a key goal-line clearance as Northern Ireland won a match in which they finished with 10 men for the first time since the famous victory over Spain in 1982.
It was perhaps not the match O'Neill had envisaged going into the night as Northern Ireland spent the vast majority of the final half-an-hour defending following Spencer's dismissal, but the win felt more significant given it came in the face of adversity.
Morning, GAWA 💚🤍
Thank you to all 18,021 of you that made it another special night under the lights 👏🏻 #GAWA pic.twitter.com/pqwvuNiX8E
— Northern Ireland (@NorthernIreland) June 11, 2025
O'Neill will take the positives from that as he turns attention to September's qualifiers away to Luxembourg and Germany.
'We approach it in a good place and we approach it with optimism,' O'Neill said of the qualifying campaign. 'I think there's a belief in there that, yes, we will be able to go and take points at this level. We look forward to it.'
O'Neill's squad remains both young and in large parts inexperienced. Twelve of the 25-man squad for Tuesday's game were 21 or under, and more than half remain in single figures for the number of caps they have.
Having been drawn alongside Germany, Slovakia and Luxembourg in Group A, Northern Ireland's realistic target is second place and a play-off spot, but O'Neill's optimism extends well beyond the next six games.
'I know the team will continue to progress beyond the World Cup campaign,' he said. 'It's just natural that the team will continue to progress. The more they play international football, the better they'll get at it.
'That's all they need – they need more and more exposure, they need more minutes under their belts. Will the world Cup campaign come too soon for this group? I don't know. The proof will be in the games.'
As had been expected ahead of the fixture, Saturday's 2-1 defeat to Denmark in Copenhagen showed where Northern Ireland need to improve out of possession. Spencer's red card turned Tuesday's friendly into a similar exercise for much of the second half.
When asked what his main takeaways from the week were, O'Neill said: 'I think we're going to go into games where we're going to come under a lot of pressure, teams that will come and press us.
'We have to be better than what we've shown in both Copenhagen and then here in terms of how we deal with that. But the other side of our team is our ability to play on the counter-attack, our ability to run without the ball, our desire in our shape and structure.
'We've a lot of things, when we look at the two games, where we'll find a lot of positives. But we're always looking for it to get better. This is still very early in the progression of this team.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mirror
3 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Liverpool 'contacted' over Darwin Nunez sale but Man Utd star could ruin plans
Darwin Nunez has been heavily linked with an exit from Liverpool after falling down the pecking order under manager Arne Slot, who started the Uruguayan forward just seven times in the 2024-25 Premier League season Liverpool have reportedly been contacted by Serie A side Napoli over striker Darwin Nunez, according to reports, but their interest in Manchester United forward Rasmus Hojlund could complicate the deal. Nunez joined Liverpool for £85million in 2022 but has had mixed success at Anfield and fell down the pecking order under manager Arne Slot this season. The Uruguayan has been strongly linked with an exit from Liverpool after he made just eight starts in the Premier League under Slot and had to settle for appearances in cup competitions as he scored just seven times in total. The 25-year-old will be desperate for regular game time ahead of Uruguay possibly appearing at the 2026 World Cup next summer. Now, according to Football Italia, Napoli have reportedly reached out to Liverpool over a move. It says the club have promised boss Antonio Conte a raft of new signings after they won the Serie A title and the Italian is eager to secure another striker that can compete with Romelu Lukaku up front. The report adds Napoli are "pushing" for Nunez, but might struggle to agree a fee given that Liverpool paid so much for his services three years ago and won't want to take a big loss on profit. Nunez scored 34 goals in 41 appearances for Benfica in his final season in 2021-22 but only managed 15 in his debut season. He then scored 18 in 2023-24 in Jurgen Klopp's last campaign before opportunities began drying up under Slot. It goes on to say that Napoli could turn to United star Hojlund as an alternative, which would be a blow for Liverpool as they look to balance the books in the event that they sign Bayer Leverkusen's Florian Wirtz - who is being priced at £126m. A move to Napoli for Hojlund would see him return to Italy's top flight two years after he left Atalanta in a £72m deal. Hojlund has failed to impress since arriving at Old Trafford and managed only four goals in the Premier League last season, having scored ten in the previous campaign. Napoli have already been quick to make their first signing of the summer transfer window after announcing the arrival of Kevin de Bruyne on a free transfer from Manchester City. De Bruyne was given a hero's welcome after jetting into Naples - and the club revealed his signing by uploading a picture of the Belgian star sitting on the throne, with the caption: "King Kev is here." Join our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
Glasgow Times
4 hours ago
- Glasgow Times
SFA stance on Clarke's future revealed as chief makes pyro claim
Clarke came in for renewed criticism from supporters after a 3-1 defeat to Iceland in a Hampden friendly last week. While the national team steadied the ship with a 4-0 win over minnows Liechtenstein, a record of five wins in 22 games have increased the level of scrutiny on the manager ahead of the first World Cup qualifier against Denmark in September. Read more: While Clarke himself has said that there is a 75% chance of him leaving his job after the next World Cup cycle, SFA Chief Executive Ian Maxwell claims the matter has yet to come up for discussion. "There has been no conversation, Steve wants to get us to the World Cup, and we're all just focusing on that. "It's my job to have an eye on who's out there at all times, because managers leave for a variety of different reasons at a variety of different times, sometimes when you least expect it. "So if I'm doing my job properly, there's always half an eye on who's available and we'll have that conversation with Steve as and when the time comes. But the focus has to be, we want to get to the World Cup, what do we need to do to make sure that we give everybody the best chance of doing that?" Clarke has said that qualification for the World Cup Finals in Mexico, Canada and America could persuade him to stay on beyond his current contract, due to expire next summer. Reluctant to speculate on the likelihood of a renewal, Maxwell offered his support for the current manager in the face of signs of a growing weariness with his tenure amongst supporters. "I saw something about five wins in 22 or whatever it was, but you think back to the start of the Euro qualifying campaign, we won four or five in a row, and we've qualified as one of the first teams to do so, so there's nuance to it all. "People can look at numbers, people can look at stats, and you can make them whatever you want them to make, but as I said, we need to have a broader view. "When you look back since 2019 we've gone League C, League B, League A, back-to-back Euros, it was a penalty kick that we should have got away from being the first manager to get us out of a group at the Euros. "If you'd have told everybody in 2019 that would have been the case, it would have been where do we sign? "It happens, and there's bits in between that aren't brilliant, by everybody's admission, and we're not shying away from that. You have to be broad-minded." Clubs were also told, meanwhile, of new measures to crack down on fan pyrotechnics and unruly behaviour during domestic cup games. "Everybody has to do more," added Maxwell. "We've got a Government Roundtable next week. "We're working as closely as we've ever been with the SPFL. The relationship's really good, and it's important that when we are dealing with things. "We just need to do as much as we can because there's been a lot of high-profile instances, particularly towards the end of last season, that were unacceptable."
Belfast Telegraph
4 hours ago
- Belfast Telegraph
Goalkeeper Pierce Charles is relishing every second of his rapid rise with club and country
Eleven months on, he is number one for the senior Northern Ireland side and Sheffield Wednesday's first choice goalkeeper. It's been quite a ride for the teenager, who continued his outstanding record at Windsor Park on Tuesday with another international clean sheet in a 1-0 friendly win over Iceland. In four appearances at the national stadium, the 19-year-old has kept the opposition scoreline blank three times with just one goal conceded in a 1-1 draw versus Switzerland. 'In football, you never know what's around the corner,' said Charles reflecting on the last year. 'Last summer, I wasn't really thinking ahead to playing for the Northern Ireland senior team. 'I was hoping one time in the future, obviously that was my target, but at that time I was just focused on the Under-19s. 'I got the opportunity back in October, thanks to the gaffer (Michael O'Neill), and I feel like I've not looked back since. 'Now I'm just trying to improve my performance every time I come away and take every step as it comes.' Ahead through a first-half strike from Isaac Price, Northern Ireland went down to 10 men just before the hour when Brodie Spencer was sent off, leading to pressure from Iceland. 'With the 10 men, it showed that we can hold on to a result,' said Charles, younger brother of midfielder Shea. 'Obviously the past few games, (against Denmark and Switzerland) we've gone ahead and then we've thrown it away so to show that we can hold on, especially with 10 men, it's fairly good. 'I was hoping we could do it, and obviously we did so it's good momentum going into the next games and it shows our determination, desire and character, everything that any manager wants to see. 'I think we were a bit disappointed in the first-half because we took a while to get going but to turn it around in the second, to keep the goals out and to keep the clean sheet, it's really positive.' Charles was a key factor in earning the victory, maintaining his concentration to make a fine save near the end. 'I think it's the most important point for a goalkeeper,' stated Charles. 'The first 15 minutes of the second-half, if you don't have anything to do, you've just got to keep yourself ready, because you never know when their best chance might come, which was at the end, and you've always got to be ready.' Charles was helped by one goal line clearance from goalscorer Price. 'He seems to love this place, doesn't he? He scores every time he comes here,' said the Owls star post match. 'He's lethal in front of goal, and he showed what he can do in the second half of the season at West Brom as well. He put on really good performances. At Windsor, he's doing it at both ends!' Quizzed on the World Cup double header in September away to Luxembourg and Germany, Charles added: 'The win fills us with more confidence. It'll be the last memory that we have until September. So, I think everyone will be more positive now, going into September, rather than if we had lost against Iceland for example. 'I can't wait until then and, of course, the Germany game. They're the games that you want to play in since you were a kid. I just can't wait. 'We're young and we take it one step at a time, and obviously going into September, we'll do the most we can. I think we've got to have patience with ourselves as well, because we've got a long way to go to what we hope to achieve, especially in the future.'
