NI focus on the ‘here and now’ in World Cup effort

Fifa World Cup qualifier: Slovakia v Northern Ireland

Venue: Kosice, Slovakia Date: Friday, 14 November Kick-off: 19:45 GMT

As Northern Ireland take the field against Slovakia on Friday evening, for many of Michael O’Neill’s young squad it will feel like the most consequential international of their careers to date.

With their efforts to reach the World Cup in North America next summer reaching a critical juncture, there is a sense that the 90 minutes in Kosice could be defining in Group A where Northern Ireland are three points behind both Germany and Slovakia with two games remaining.

However, needing at least a point to carry their hopes of a top-two finish into their final group game at home to Luxembourg on Monday, there is the curious scenario where Northern Ireland’s players could leave the field beaten, only to discover that events elsewhere have ensured them a qualifying play-off spot regardless.

As a winner of their Nations League group, only a highly unlikely set of results would mean Northern Ireland would miss out on the play-off games in March.

Knowing the importance of seeding come the play-offs, and what second place in the group would represent for his panel, manager O’Neill is giving little thought to the potential of a backdoor route into those crunch spring fixtures.

“We haven’t paid any attention to that,” he said. “We did our job in the Nations League and, if that gives us a route to a qualification play-off, great. If it doesn’t, we have to take care of it here.

“This is the here and now, we have to deal with that situation which is obviously getting as many points as we can from the final two games.

Belief that Northern Ireland could seal second place ahead of Slovakia surged after they were comfortably the superior team when the sides met in Belfast last month, winning 2-0 with a performance that record goalscorer David Healy said was perhaps their best ever under O’Neill.

In the weeks since, however, there is a growing feeling that the tables have turned somewhat.

Slovakia were missing influential pair Stanislav Lobotka and David Hancko for the game at Windsor Park, with both expected to be back in Francesco Calzona’s starting line-up at the Kosice Football Arena this time around.

Northern Ireland, however, will be without three-quarters of the midfield that so impressed in the reverse fixture, with Shea Charles and Ali McCann injured while Ethan Galbraith is suspended.

How the manager fills such considerable holes in his line-up has been the key talking point since his squad was confirmed last week.

In Napoli’s Lobotka, O’Neill believes Slovakia can again call upon one of the best defensive midfielders in Europe.

“He’s an excellent player and he plays at the top level with Napoli, but we look at Slovakia as a team, we don’t look at them as one player or two players,” he said.

“It won’t change the way Slovakia try and play. We have to deal with that as a team, it’s not one individual player.

If O’Neill is complimentary of Lobotka, such sentiments have not been reciprocated this week with the 30-year-old quoted as saying Northern Ireland lacked creativity were “annoying”.

In response to what was a not dissimilar critique of his side to the one aired by Germany manager Julian Nagelsmann earlier in the campaign, O’Neill quipped that his wife is quick to call him annoying too, but in fact feels there are similarities between his side and Slovakia in terms of style and approach.

“We take that as a compliment and it won’t upset us,” he said of Lobotka’s remark.

“I would say that they’re quite similar to us in the way that it is their collective as a team. They play in a very structured way. They believe in the way they play. They have good individual players. They’re good as a collective.