Michael O'Neill clear Northern Ireland 'want to challenge' - but insists 'we have to recognise where we are'
Northern Ireland manager Michael O’Neill insists “we have to recognise where we are as a nation” as they fight against footballing powerhouses for a spot at major tournaments – but says his side “want to challenge all the time”.
O’Neill’s men were attempting to end the country’s 40-year World Cup wait this month, but suffered elimination in a play-off semi-final defeat to four-time champions Italy in Bergamo on Thursday.
For a country the size of Northern Ireland, the challenge of securing progression to the biggest competitions is stern – for example, only 16 teams from UEFA will compete at this summer’s World Cup.
Northern Ireland are currently ranked as the 32nd best nation in Europe and 71st in the world according to FIFA – they’ve provisionally dropped two places from a previous position of 69 prior to facing Italy.
The 2028 European Championships will provide Northern Ireland’s next opportunity to play at a major tournament as O’Neill looks to repeat the feat of 2016 when his side qualified by finishing top of Group F.
With their average age sitting below 23 on Thursday, Northern Ireland’s squad will likely have a familiar look heading into that qualification run, and O’Neill feels they’ll only continue to improve.
"Of course we want to challenge all the time, but we've got to recognise where we are as a nation and what we have to do,” said O’Neill. “To get to a World Cup is extremely difficult.
"For us to get to a World Cup, we have to get there at the expense of a nation like Italy, which is a huge challenge.
"We obviously had a huge challenge in our group with Germany as well. But yes, I believe that to get to this stage is a real positive.
"We will take this forward when qualification comes for Euro 2028. The players will be further along in their journey.
"We might have some additional players in the squad as well, but the squad is only going to continue to improve because we're not going to see a drop-off.
"We've only got two or three players that are in that category of maybe reflecting on their international career.
"The majority of this squad will remain together for a good few tournaments to come.”
Another challenge facing O’Neill is a small player pool – nine of Northern Ireland’s starting line-up in Italy ply their trade in the Championship
Their panel was further depleted by the injury absence of talisman Conor Bradley and Sunderland defender Dan Ballard – two of four Premier League players O’Neill can regularly call upon.
Northern Ireland have consistently punched above their weight – Germany narrowly escaped Belfast with a 1-0 win last year – but O’Neill says the process of building squad depth will take time.
"It's hard when you lose a game to realise the positives,” added O’Neill. “The players are disappointed and you have to feel that disappointment with them as well.
“But, look, for a nation of our size to come here with a team of that age and play as we did, there's a lot of positives.
"The difficulty is having depth in our squad to deal with when players are not available to us...that's something that will take a bit of time.
"There's no way to fast-track that, we just have to be patient.
"When we reflect on the game and what we've done in this campaign overall, to be here at the play-off stage, to play the way we played in the group, as I say, we have a lot more things to be positive about.
"I think the team has developed and it's grown. You saw how we played tonight away in Italy, how we played in Germany away, Germany at home.
"Yes, we've lost those games, but the games have all been tight, we've been in the game, we've given a good account of ourselves.
"We've developed a good characteristic of a team that's hard to beat and that has to be something that we have to continue with.”