Senior men’s team manager Michael O’Neill is looking for a solid start to Northern Ireland’s fourth UEFA Nations League campaign.
Northern Ireland are set to take on top seeds Luxembourg in League C Group 3 at the National Football Stadium at Windsor Park later today (7.45pm) and O’Neill has urged his players to build on the two wins and a draw registered this year to date.
“I will be looking for a good performance and a solid start to the latest Nations League campaign,” he says in the matchday programme for the game in Belfast.
He also reveals there’s a lot of positivity in the squad following this year’s challenge match victories over Scotland (away) and Andorra (in Spain), and the draw against Romania (away) in a friendly.
“Our last home game, against Denmark, gave the younger players in particular a real sense of belief that they belong on the international stage, and that’s something we have to harness,” he points out.
Calling the defeat in a friendly against eventual European champions Spain in June a blip, he notes in general the squad is developing well and the mood is good in the camp ahead of the first double header of a new campaign; Northern Ireland (third seeds in C3) are due to play away against second seeds Bulgaria in Plovdiv on Sunday (5pm BST).
The manager also says he can sense a desire within the players this week to push on again, starting with today’s game.
“They are looking forward to playing at the National Stadium for the first time this year, with the fans getting behind them,” he adds.
The Northern Ireland boss notes Luxembourg have been developing well under long-serving manager Luc Holtz in recent years and he believes they will be “really tough opponents”.
The manager further points out: “They have some very talented players who produced a string of good results in their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign.”
That strong showing in the Euro 2024 campaign saw Luxembourg climb to 84th in the FIFA World Rankings (July 2024) – two places short of their all-time high back in September 2018 and a far cry from their position of 195th in August 2006. Northern Ireland are currently ranked 74th.
Luxembourg finished third with 17 points in a group containing Portugal, Slovakia, Iceland, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Liechtenstein and progressed to the play-offs by virtue of their previous performances in the 2022-23 UEFA Nations League when they were runners-up in Group C1.
The Red Lions, as they are nicknamed, won five, drew two and lost just three of their UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying matches, which included a goalless draw in Slovakia and home (4-1) and away (2-0) triumphs against Bosnia and Herzegovina, while they took four points from a possible six against Iceland. Portugal topped Group J, while Slovakia were second.
Unfortunately for Luxembourg they were subsequently defeated by Georgia in the Euro 2024 play-offs.
Captain Laurent Jans, who plays for SK Beveren in Belgium, is an experienced and calming influence in the Red Lions’ backline. He has won 102 senior international caps since 2012.
The defence usually also features two other solid operators in Maxime Chanot (Los Angeles FC, USA) and Lars Gerson (Kongsvinger IL, NOR). And they have an experienced keeper in Anthony Moris, who plays for Belgian top flight team Union Saint-Gilloise.
At the other end of the pitch the lively Gerson Rodrigues (Guanxi Pingguo Haliao, CHN) is a constant threat and is Luxembourg’s record goalscorer with 21 strikes in 62 appearances. Danel Sinani, who plays for St Pauli in Germany, is a regular scorer for the Red Lions, too.
