Michael O’Neill: Northern Ireland coach tells players to seize play-off opportunity

With Northern Ireland still two matches away from qualifying for the 2026 World Cup, manager Michael O’Neill has told his players “don’t waste this opportunity”.

It’s certainly not a direct route to North America, as O’Neill’s side travel to Italy for a semi-final on March 26, and if they stun the Azzurri, they will then travel to Wales from Bosnia and Herzegovina five days later for a winner-take-all final.

Italy have not qualified for the World Cup since the 2014 edition in Brazil, with Northern Ireland missing from the big dance since 1986 when it was last held in Mexico – one of next year’s three host nations alongside Canada and the USA.

Although O’Neill’s squad is young, the Northern Ireland coach has no concerns that his side may rise to the challenge in the qualifiers, and despite away defeats to Germany and Slovakia in the group stage, he feels his side have shown enough on the road to suggest they are capable of pulling off an upset.

He said: “It is difficult to win away from home in international football and this is something this team still has to develop, but I draw a lot of encouragement from the performances in Cologne and Slovakia where we faced challenges and were missing key players in those matches.”

“We played really well and played the game in Germany for 70 or 75 minutes. We were in the game in Slovakia until the end and we were very sad about the nature of that result.

“We have to make the game as difficult as possible for Italy, and it will be difficult for them with the expectations they have going into the game.

“If we can add to that with the way we are playing and the level of our performance, who knows. We have a chance to go to the World Cup and we have to do everything possible to try and take advantage of it. What I will tell them is [players] It is “don’t miss the opportunity”.