Northern Ireland ready for 2010 campaign

September 2, 2008

There has been good news so far for boss Nigel Worthington as the squad has had no pull outs as yet. Several players were involved in the weekend’s action for their club, notably Steven Davis playing in the Old Firm derby for Rangers, David Healy making a 30 minute appearance for Sunderland, and defender George McCartney also getting half an hour played for West Ham.

McCartney has however today sealed a move to previous club Sunderland, joining up with record scorer Healy, who arrived several weeks ago. An offer was turned down from Sunderland for the left back in July, however a bid in the region of £6 million has now been accepted by West Ham. The 27 year old, hoping to gain a place in the NI side for the looming qualifiers, underwent a medical on Monday with Sunderland.

No serious injury doubts have been raised, as all squad players in competition came through unscathed, however defender Jonny Evans is a slight worry with a hip injury. He is expected to shake off the knock in time for this Saturday’s vital opening qualifier. The man of the match against Scotland, should he be fit, will be a vital member of the team which Worthington hopes will give a solid defensive display, in order to take at least a point home from Slovakia. The squad should be flyin out to Slovakia within the next couple of days in order to begin preparations for the much anticipated qualifier, before flying home soon after for the Czech Republic game at Windsor park in Belfast four days later.

Umbro and the IFA today announced a new ball deal today also,for both international and domestic league games. The newly designed ball will make its first appearance in the opening home game of the latest campaign against the Czech Republic on 10th September. Umbro have revealed the new Dynamis LSR pro, complete with emerald green trim to match the traditional Northern Ireland home shirt colours, and also the crest of the IFA. Umbro are continuing now as official ball suppliers not only for internatonal games, but also the IFA Premiership, IFA Championship and Interim League

In other news, Setanta sports has announced exclusively live coverage of the opening qualifier from Slovakia, taking over the deal for competitive away games from Sky Sports. Sky however now has the television rights to competitive home games, leaving only friendly matches on BBC1 Northern Ireland. Many fans will be therefore missing out on seeing the majority of the nations latest attempt to qualify for a major tournament. setanta is also screening Macedonia vs Scotland before Northern Ireland’s game, which is followed by Andorra vs England. An exciting Saturday lies only days away as the home nations start from square one in another qualifying campaign!

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