Northern Ireland have been dealt a blow before their key match against Romania, with their No1 goalkeeper, the experienced Roy Carroll, failing to recover from illness. Michael McGovern, of Hamilton Academical, is set to replace him.
The 37-year-old Carroll has been suffering from abdominal pains through the week and did not train on Thursday or Friday. The manager, Michael O’Neill, had hoped the Notts County player would recover in time for the game against the Group F leaders at Windsor Park.
McGovern, who has only three caps, will thus be making his competitive international debut in a match where victory would elevate Northern Ireland to the top of the group halfway through the campaign. But O’Neill is confident McGovern will excel and a fine display by the 30-year-old in a friendly against Scotland at Hampden Park in March suggests Northern Ireland can rely on him.
The switch means the national goalkeeping coach, Maik Taylor – officially retired and whose last game was in September 2012 for Millwall – has been parachuted into the squad as back-up behind Trevor Carson of Cheltenham Town.
O’Neill says generating expectations and memories is fuelling his overachieving squad. He has worked tirelessly since the abject performances during the last World Cup qualifying campaign and, with four wins out of five, the 45-year-old former Northern Ireland international is in a welcome position of strength.
The Ulstermen and qualification for major tournaments have been strangers to each other for a generation. Not since the 1986 World Cup have Northern Ireland troubled the bigger stages.
The work put in by O’Neill, who took over in 2011, is beginning to bear fruit, with the country buoyed by the team’s industry and consistency. Everyone in the Northern Ireland camp is relishing Saturday night’s contest, the manager said.
“We want to create expectations; we want to create memories,” said O’Neill, whose side are a point behind Romania. “Some players have had big nights but nothing that comes close to qualification. We have given ourselves an opportunity. It’s nice that people are talking about it [qualification] but we aren’t sitting here thinking ‘formality’. It has taken three years to get to this point. We have a group of honest boys looking forward to this.”
His squad hope to avenge their only setback in this campaign when a long night in Bucharest’s National Stadium ended in a 2-0 defeat.
Northern Ireland have a more solid team than they had in that game last November for what will be the biggest game in memory for many fans in attendance. Around 10,000 will be shoe-horned into Windsor Park, with building work accelerated since an enforced demolition of the popular west stand, after major cracks appeared in foundations following the 2-1 March victory over Finland.
The presence of the influential captain, Steven Davis, alongside the defender Jonny Evans and the winger Jamie Ward is a huge boost. It is also no coincidence that the defeat in Romania occurred with that trio absent.
“The nature of international football is that you need things to fall in line and with our resources we need that availability of players,” O’Neill said. “I need Steven and Kyle [Lafferty] and Jonny to be fit.
“It’s credit to my players the condition they are in and how they have worked. We have had no withdrawals, which says a lot. I see an edge to the players and see how they are ready to play. I am looking forward to the game and we couldn’t have asked for the preparation to be any better.”
It helps that O’Neill is getting the best out of the rangy striker Lafferty, who has five goals in qualifying, one behind the overall leading scorer, England’s Danny Welbeck. Yet, soaring hype aside, it is not, in essence, a win-at-all-costs match for O’Neill against his counterpart, the veteran Anghel Iordanescu.
“This isn’t a more significant game than Finland,” he said. “Finland was more important as we had come off a defeat [in Romania]. I just think it is a game where we can take a massive stride but equally, if it doesn’t go our way, we will still be in second place.”
Romania’s star midfielder, Lucian Sanmartean, and the vastly experienced defender Razvan Rat are out with injuries. is an admirer of Iordanescu – nicknamed The General – and feels Saturday night’s visitors will be positive in nature.
He said: “They have a more attacking team than the previous coach, who was slightly more conservative. I know what team they are likely to play. It’s hard to judge as they have only played two real games, but he set down a marker in Bucharest with his attacking approach and selection.”
