Michael O’Neill to risk bans if Northern Ireland need result in Norway

Michael O’Neill will risk having key players banned for a World Cup play-off should Northern Ireland need a result in Norway to seal their place.
O’Neill’s team are well positioned to secure one of eight play-off berths having finished second in Group C behind the world champions Germany, who ended Northern Ireland’s four-year unbeaten home run in competitive matches on Thursday. Northern Ireland finish their group campaign in Oslo on Sunday and will kick off with a play-off place confirmed should Bosnia and Herzegovina fail to beat Belgium and Cyprus avoid defeat by Greece on Saturday.
Should results go against Northern Ireland, however, they will need a positive result in Norway to be certain of reaching the play-offs next month and to increase their prospects of being seeded in the draw. They have six players one booking from a one-match suspension. The captain, Steven Davis, and the influential defender Jonny Evans are among the half-dozen who could miss the play-off first leg by collecting a yellow card in Oslo. But with the margins for qualification so fine and resources limited, O’Neill admits he cannot jeopardise Northern Ireland’s chances in Norway.
“We’ll have to see what happens between now and when we play on Sunday,” the Northern Ireland manager said. “You look at the permutations in terms of the teams finishing second. There is no guarantee that 13 points will be enough. I don’t have four players from Bayern Munich on my bench, I’m sure you’ve noticed that, so it’s not that easy to rotate my squad as it is for some other managers.
“There is a real importance to the fact that we make sure of the result in Norway because obviously we want to try and get three points, and we certainly want to make sure we’re not beaten. Equally, we can’t allow ourselves to field an inexperienced team and be beaten and then suddenly lose out on goal difference.
“We’re on a tightrope in terms of the bookings. I thought the players were excellent against Germany and the referee was very good. Both sets of players showed an enormous respect for each other on the pitch, which makes the referee’s job a lot easier. No bookings for either side and we’ll just have to evaluate the situation come Saturday night when everyone else has played.”

SOURCE : GUARDIAN SPORTS
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