Michael O’Neill believes Northern Ireland can shock Italy to reach World Cup
By Eleanor Crooks, PA Sport Correspondent
Michael O’Neill admitted Northern Ireland wanted to avoid Italy in the World Cup qualifying play-offs but backed his side to cause a major upset.
Northern Ireland must travel to Italy on March 26th for the one-off fixture, with the winners facing another away match against either Wales or Bosnia and Herzegovina five days later for a place at the finals in North America.
Northern Ireland boss O’Neill said: “We knew we’d always have a tough fixture away from home regardless of who it would be.
“I suppose we’d have preferred one of the other teams that were in pot one but ultimately to get to the World Cup we’re going to have to beat two very good teams.
“Italy away will be a massive game, great game for us to be involved in. Obviously the expectation and the pressure is very much on the Italians and we have to try to use that in our favour and we have to believe.
“I think the performances we’ve given in this campaign and away from home, I think they’ve been strong and hopefully that will give us confidence that we believe we can go to Italy and win the game.
“The big thing for me is that come March we’re as strong as possible in terms of the players’ availability, that will be a big factor for us. And, if we are, I believe we can get the right result.”
The stakes are high for the Azzurri, who have failed to qualify for the last two World Cups.
O’Neill admitted he has not studied Italy closely having been focused on Northern Ireland’s group, but he added: “I know they lost home and away to Norway in the qualification.
“With (Gennaro) Gattuso as the manager, you’d expect them to be not lacking in passion. We’ll do our work now, we’ve got four months to prepare for this game and look at Italy in close detail.
“What I will say to (my players) is don’t waste the opportunity. It’s not a case of being ready, it’s about taking the opportunity.
“The most important thing is that we have belief going into this game that we can produce probably one of the best results that we’ll have in our history, certainly in our recent history.”
Bosnia produced a strong qualifying campaign, only missing out on top spot by two points to Austria in their group, but Wales will be delighted that both their potential matches are at home.
The Republic of Ireland, who booked their spot in dramatic fashion thanks to a last-gasp victory over Hungary, will play away in the Czech Republic in their semi-final.
The winner of that will take on either Denmark or North Macedonia in a home match.
Four of the remaining qualifiers will be from Europe, with one of Ukraine, Sweden, Poland and Albania coming through path B, while path C features Turkey, Romania, Slovakia and Kosovo.
The draw was also made for the inter-confederation play-offs, from which the final two teams for the 48-strong finals will come.
Jamaica, who missed out on automatic qualifying to Curacao, will take on New Caledonia, with the winner facing the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the final.
Bolivia and Suriname, meanwhile, will clash for the right to face Iraq.
