Northern Ireland vs San Marino - Northern Ireland to deal with contrasting fixtures

Posted Saturday, October 08, 2016 by PA

Michael O'Neill has acknowledged preparing his Northern Ireland team for contrasting fixtures with San Marino and Germany presents the biggest challenge in international football.

The country ranked 201st in the FIFA world rankings, who have never won a competitive game in their history, are the opponents in Belfast on Saturday night before O'Neill's side travel to Hannover to meet Joachim Low's world champions three days on.

The contests are, as captain Steven Davis stated, like "chalk and cheese", yet O'Neill is confident that his squad is better prepared than ever to meet the differing demands of both fixtures having lost to Russia and drawn with Luxembourg when faced with similar propositions in the previous World Cup qualifying campaign.

"That transition is the most difficult part of international football," O'Neill admitted.

"I always remember the first game in charge where we were away to (Fabio) Capello's Russia and had to be difficult to beat and then we had to get back from Russia, turn the team around and play Luxembourg here with a totally different approach and different personnel.

"We're a lot better equipped for that now. I think we also benefit from the fact that it's only three months or so since we played Germany in Paris. So we know what to expect.

"It's the difference in terms of changes of personnel that will be important in that game as well. Whilst it is a difficult task, and it's made more difficult because there's a day less, but our focus is to win the first game.

"The most important part of any game, more than being tactically ready, is being mentally right and if you win the first game you'll be mentally right for the second."

San Marino are hopeful Northern Ireland's unfamiliar role as favourites can play into their hands, according to manager Pierangelo Manzaroli.

"Northern Ireland play well when the big team try to attack and has a good counter-attack," Manzaroli noted.

"When Northern Ireland try to resolve the match with possession, maybe they have a lot of difficulty.

"I think Northern Ireland have a good generation of players. After Germany, they can try to compete with the Czech Republic and Norway for qualification.

"We know a lot of the game will be played in our half. We must do defensively well and try to counter-attack every time.

"We believe in our dream, in our chance. The last match against Azerbaijan was good, we lost only 1-0, so we try to improve our development."