World Cup 2018 Qualifying play-off, first leg: Northern Ireland v Switzerland
(Thursday, Windsor Park, 7.45pm, live on Sky Sports Main Event)
GREECE is the word of inspiration for Northern Ireland boss Michael O’Neill, but he’s also keen to avoid any costly slip-up tonight.
Injuries to important Swiss players could raise hopes of the type of convincing home victory (3-1) over the Greeks that secured qualification for Euro 2016.
However, O’Neill does not expect such an outcome, fully aware that this tie is “a 180-minute game.”
“It’s very important to get into that different mindset than the Greece game,” he insisted.
“One win doesn’t take you to the finals, it’s a different scenario and I don’t envisage there being a big margin of victory, it will be tight play-off tie and the main thing is we take something to Basel to give us an opportunity.
“We hope that’s a lead, but you also have the significance of an away goal, which you wouldn’t often have in international football, and that can change the dynamic of the tie.
“You can get bogged down on these matters but our focus is on the performance and getting the result we want.”
Ideally that would be ‘something nil’.
Swiss star Xherdan Shaqiri is cognisant of the dangers the men in green pose, commenting: “Northern Ireland is the most difficult opponent that any of the four seeded nations could have been drawn against. Everybody is full of respect for them.
“It’s no secret their most important qualities are their physical power on the pitch, the structure of their game, and their dangerous corners and free-kicks.”
The hosts will hope to exploit the absence through a knee injury of former Arsenal centre half Johan Djourou, while defensive midfielder Valon Behrami – formerly of West Ham and Watford – is the subject of a ‘club v country’ row over his hamstring injury. He has travelled, against his club Udinese’s wishes, but Denis Zakaria is more likely to partner Arsenal’s pass master Granit Xhaka in central midfield.
Basel’s 22-year-old Manuel Akanji is favoured to join Fabian Schar at centre back, although clubmate Michael Lang is a more experienced option.
Given those changes, Switzerland may be defensively vulnerable.
O’Neill is always capable of springing surprises in his selection but there’s a sense that his only alterations may be in attack.
Jamie Ward is available again after different injuries kept him out of the second half of the Group C campaign and he may displace Stuart Dallas from a wide midfield role.
Josh Magennis is likely to remain on the opposite flank, able to push into a front two when his side is going forward, but who his central partner should be is up for debate.
Conor Washington lined out in Oslo but Kyle Lafferty has been playing well - and scoring – for Hearts and may get the nod.
Northern Ireland must beware the threat from the Swiss full-backs, Stephan Lichtsteiner and Ricardo Rodriguez, who, despite playing for Italian clubs – Juventus and Milan respectively – love to power forward, and scored five goals between them in qualifying. Magennis and Ward (or Dallas) will have to work hard to protect Conor McLaughlin and Chris Brunt.
O’Neill was in jocular mood yesterday, agreeing that the camp feels ‘composed’ “other than myself”.
“The reality is these players have gone through a lot, and experienced a lot of good and bad,” he added.
“The thing I would say is not to fear the situation but to embrace it and make sure that whatever happens you don’t have any regrets. Regardless if we qualify or not.
“We all know the prize is massive and everyone here in Northern Ireland wants it.”
O’Neill sees similarities between the two teams, albeit that the Swiss have more men with bigger clubs: “Their strength is in the collective like us, they have a lot of good players; we know obviously of Xhaka, Shaqiri, and Seferovic.
“We have done a lot of work recognising their attacking threat and we know they have competed at this level well. They were in the last 16 of the Euros and the last World Cup.
“They have a lot of tournament experience as well but we have said all along, while we respect our opponents and we know it will be a difficult game, we must do everything within our power to try and get to the finals…
“Our primary focus is getting through these two games, but there is a self- belief that has grown over the past three or four years in this squad.”
If Northern Ireland can keep a clean sheet, as they did in seven qualifiers, and return to winning ways, then they’ll be almost as close to Russia as Greece is.
Northern Ireland (probable 4-5-1/4-3-3): McGovern; C McLaughlin, McAuley, J Evans, Brunt; Magennis, Norwood, C Evans, Davis (capt.), Ward; K Lafferty.
Switzerland (probable, 4-2-3-1): Sommer; Lichtsteiner, Schar, Akanji, Rodriguez; Zakaria, Xhaka; Shaqiri, Dzemaili, Zuber; Seferovic
Referee: Ovidiu Hategan (Romania)
