O’Neill would swap milestone for win in ‘heartbeat’

2026 World Cup qualifiers: Northern Ireland v Slovakia; Northern Ireland v Germany

Venue: Windsor Park, Belfast Dates: Friday, 10 October & Monday, 13 October Kick-off: 19:45 BST

Northern Ireland boss Michael O’Neill says he would swap his upcoming personal landmark for World Cup qualifying points “in a heartbeat”.

O’Neill will take charge of his 99th and 100th games as Northern Ireland manager against Slovakia and Germany at Windsor Park over the next five days.

Hosting the four-time world champions – who won last month’s fixture 3-1 in Cologne – will be a glamorous way to mark his century, but O’Neill insists he is only interested in results as his team push to reach next year’s finals.

“It’s a nice personal thing for me, but I haven’t given it too much thought,” O’Neill told BBC Newsline.

“The most important thing is the preparation of the team. It is difficult. I think if we can get the right result on Friday night then the mental frame of the team and how they’re feeling going into Monday can be very positive.

Victory on Friday in Belfast would move Northern Ireland level with Group A leaders Slovakia on six points as they bid to reach their first World Cup since 1986, with former international and BBC pundit Stuart Dallas stating it is the team’s biggest game in years.

O’Neill, however, was not interested in making any grand declarations 48 hours before kick-off.

“I think sometimes too much is made of that,” added the 56-year-old, who reported a clean bill of health for his 27-man squad.

“There are three points at stake. It would be foolish of people to just write off Luxembourg. We had a tough game there and so did Slovakia.

While performing in front of an energetic home crowd will place more pressure on the players, O’Neill says he has been buoyed by the “edge” he has seen in training this week.

“There’s pressure in these games and you never really know that until you step on the pitch, but this is such a young group and they have everything to gain – that’s what I’ve continually told them,” said the former Stoke boss, who was speaking on the 10th anniversary of the 3-1 win over Greece that secured his side’s spot at Euro 2016.

“They’re going to play a lot of games like this throughout their international careers hopefully and I do feel they are ready for games of this nature.