Michael O’Neill has revealed he told his young Northern Ireland team to give the home fans a night to remember at Windsor Park before the 5-0 thrashing of Bulgaria just in case they are not allowed to play Belarus in Belfast next month.
The Northern Ireland boss certainly got his wish as Isaac Price netted a hat-trick, Bulgaria goalkeeper Dimitar Mitov scored an own goal after Brodie Spencer’s drive hit the post and substitute Josh Magennis smashed in a beauty moving O’Neill’s side to the top of their Nations League group.
With two games scheduled for November against Belarus at Windsor followed by a match in Luxembourg, Northern Ireland are now favourites to finish first in the League C Group 3 table, but uncertainty exists around where the opening match will take place.
The Belfast Telegraph revealed in September that the UK government was against Northern Ireland playing Belarus in Belfast on November 15 due to that country’s involvement in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with doubts now surrounding whether Belarusian players and staff will be granted entry visas to play here.
The IFA are exploring options outside the UK should they be forced to play away from Windsor but remain hopeful the game will take place in Belfast.
O’Neill wants the match to go ahead on home turf, believing it would be ‘unfair’ if his players only had two Windsor fixtures in the campaign rather than the allotted three.
He knows his young side are building a connection with the Green and White Army which was in evidence during Tuesday night’s thrilling triumph over Bulgaria
“Players have to enjoy playing here and I said to them before the game that we may not get the chance to play here in November so give the crowd something to remember and they certainly did that in terms of the level of their performance,” said O’Neill.
“The decision is out of our hands and we’ll have to deal with it. The important thing was to focus on how we played (against Bulgaria) and then to take that into the next game wherever that might be.”