Michael O’Neill was a teenage midfielder making his way in Northern Irish domestic football when his country last graced the FIFA World Cup™. Mexico 1986 marked the nation’s second consecutive qualification for the tournament, but it has been four decades since the Green and White Army have had the chance to travel to the sport’s greatest event.
“If you think about it, there’s a whole generation of our fans who maybe weren’t even born back in ‘86, or they’re certainly at an age where they can’t remember it too well,” O’Neill told FIFA. “That’s why qualifying for EURO 2016 was so special for our supporters. They lived through that experience of going to a major tournament and seeing their country perform well there. We want to try to give them that opportunity again.”
With O’Neill back for his second stint as Northern Ireland coach, there is cautious optimism they can mount a genuine challenge for a World Cup 26 berth.
The national team have enjoyed the greatest successes in their recent history under his management. As well as reaching Euro 2016 during his first spell in charge, they came agonisingly close to qualifying for the 2018 World Cup, losing out 1-0 to Switzerland in a two-legged play-off.
Northern Ireland will begin their bid to reach next year’s global finals with an away double-header against Luxembourg and Germany next month. O’Neill will later expand on the contrasting demands those matches provide, but he first revealed how contesting such high-stakes encounters still gets his pulse racing.
“International football is always special,” said O’Neill, who returned to coach Northern Ireland in 2022 after three years with English Championship team Stoke City. “I do feel every game is an occasion. When I was back in club management, that was the thing I probably missed the most. The excitement is still there for me personally. We want to continue to grow as a team and reflect all the best things we believe we are as a nation as well.”
O’Neill has been encouraged by the progress Northern Ireland have made over the past 18 months. They won their UEFA Nations League group and, crucially, have integrated several exciting emerging talents.
“We’ve seen a big transition in the squad,” he said. “We’ve had to grow a team again and develop a side with a lot of younger players. Along the way, we’ve had some very good results. We’ve had a few bloody noses as well, which is part of any player’s development. Overall, it’s been very positive.”
One of those eye-catching young players has been 21-year-old midfielder Isaac Price. The West Bromwich Albion star has struck seven goals in his past seven Northern Ireland games, a sequence which included a stunning hat-trick in a thumping 5-0 win over Bulgaria.
“Isaac is improving all the time, both tactically and technically,” said O’Neill. “When you look at modern-day players, athleticism is such a big part of the game. Isaac is an extremely gifted natural athlete in terms of his ability to run and his size. He’s obviously a very good finisher as well. When you’re looking at players that can go far, they’re players that change games and affect key moments. Isaac’s certainly done that for us. He has a massive future ahead of him.”
In 22-year-old Liverpool right-back Conor Bradley, meanwhile, O’Neill can call upon a player who has excelled at the highest level.
“Conor’s a player at one of the biggest clubs in the world and currently one of the best teams in the world,” said the Northern Ireland boss. “I know how highly regarded he is at Liverpool. The great thing about Conor is he just comes into the group and he is the way he’s always been. He’s very close to a lot of the lads. There’s a very good culture here and a good team spirit. Conor’s a big part of that.”
Bradley’s status in O’Neill’s squad is underlined by the fact that, despite his tender years, the defender has already captained the side.
“Conor is a natural leader,” added O’Neill. “I think he demonstrates that in how he is around the camp, but also in terms of how he plays the game as well. He’s a big, big player for us and we hope that he has a big campaign.”
Read on for more of our interview with Michael O’Neill.
Michael O’Neill: We know their squad well and they have players playing at a good level across Europe. That’s testament to a lot of the work that they’ve done as an association. We don’t really regard ourselves as favourites. We have to be at our best to win and put on a very, very good performance. I hope we can take a positive result there that we can bring that into the second game in Germany, which is obviously a difficult match for us.
It’s big step up for a lot of our players and the big thing is to create that belief within the group. We reiterate the message of how good we can be without the ball, and also about having self-belief when we have the ball. For a number of our players, their club football is either in League One or the Championship, with a few in the Premier League. The majority of Germany’s team will probably play at Champions League level.
But if you have a good structure and good methods of dealing with that level of opposition, belief comes from that. We have to give the players that belief and let them see that they’re capable of dealing with the game at this level.
I don’t think we would set a target, but the players will know the games against Luxembourg and Slovakia are where we have to maximise where we get points. And both of those nations will feel the same about the games with us. For all three nations, taking something off Germany would be a massive result in the history of the game in Slovakia, Northern Ireland or Luxembourg.
But groups can open up and there could be surprise results. The most important thing is that we get off to a good start, because we have two home games in October (against Slovakia and Germany). We want to make sure we’re in a decent position when they come around.
Just how I’ve seen the team grow and develop. I’ve seen our players progressing at club level and they’re bringing that progression into the international scene. We have several players who have moved clubs this year and are playing their club football at a higher level: moving from League One to the Championship, or from the Championship to the Premier League. Players are coming into the international arena with more belief and believing that they can achieve something at this level.
Also, the experiences they’ve had with us have been positive. They’ve had difficult games and acquitted themselves well. Our results have been pretty good, not perfect, but we’ve certainly made progress in the last couple of years.
Look, you dream of that all the time. The World Cup in North America will be fantastic and hopefully we can be part of it. For many of my players, they would still say that Euro 2016 was the highlight of their careers, and some of them had great careers as well.
To go to a major tournament with your country, particularly when you’re a small nation like us, it’s a massive experience to have. The whole country totally gets behind you. This young group of players are going to have a few opportunities to do that, but there’s no better time than the present.
