Northern Ireland's 'incentive' is trying to improve all the time, says Women's manager Michael McArdle ahead of qualification double-header
Northern Ireland Women’s manager Michael McArdle admits he wants to see green shoots of progress as they prepare for World Cup qualifiers against Turkiye and Switzerland.
The country are unbeaten in McArdle’s two outings to date – both victories against Malta – as they get set for their final two games, starting with a trip to Turkiye on Friday and then a home meeting against Switzerland (June 9).
McArdle has named a relatively young squad for the two games and he spoke of his determination to give youth a chance to shine.
He told BBC Sport NI: "I think the big incentive is trying to get better all the time, so we want to continue to progress and continue to aim high and see what comes and test ourselves.
"There's various projects at the moment within the one goal of qualifying for tournaments. Some of those projects are investment in players and some of those players are youth players where we have to invest to see if they are capable and if they are capable, we have to give more minutes, more caps, more camp experience.
"At the moment, this is an opportunity to invest in a couple of the younger players to see what they've got and see if they can contribute and we believe they can."
Northern Ireland are third in the group on six points from four games. The Swiss lead the way with 10 points from four qualifiers, while Turkiye have seven points. Malta prop up the B2 table with zero points so far.
McArdle’s side are confirmed a spot in the World Cup play-offs regardless of the upcoming matches but the Northern Ireland chief wants to see his players end their campaign strongly.
"The higher finish gives you that ranking for the next round of the Uefa Nations League for the draws," he added.
"The actual path one and path two [for the World Cup qualifiers] are still the same. It gives you slight seeding differences, but the effect that they have on path two are irrelevant.
"So, second and third, unfortunately, are very similar when it comes to the play-off qualification, but when it comes to next year's seedings for the Nations League draw, it has a slight impact."