Northern Ireland’s wait for World Cup qualifiers to start suits Michael O’Neill | OneFootball

Michael O’Neill is more than happy to wait until September for Northern Ireland’s World Cup qualifying campaign to get under way as he focuses instead on friendlies against Switzerland and Sweden.

The road to next summer’s tournament in the United States, Mexico and Canada opens up this week with Wales and England among those beginning their qualifying campaigns, but Northern Ireland must wait another six months after being drawn into one of the four-nation groups rather than one with five.

Given their strong form in 2024, Northern Ireland might have fancied getting stuck in straightaway but they will instead play friendlies both this month and in June while they wait to learn if Italy or Germany will join them in Group A alongside Slovakia or Luxembourg.

For O’Neill, a manager long known for his attention to detail, having more time to prepare a young squad is no problem at all.

He also pointed to the benefit of starting a campaign at a better point in the domestic season, while avoiding competitive fixtures during the summer international window.

“Personally I prefer to start the qualification campaign in September,” O’Neill told the PA news agency. “I just think it feels better. March has always been difficult. A lot of clubs have a lot at stake in March, whether they’re fighting relegation or challenging for trophies or for promotion.

“So March is always a test in terms of player availability. June is never ideal for us because a lot of our players play in the Football League which finishes in the first week of May so to ask them to come and play in mid-June, there’s a lot of preparation and players have to manage themselves.

“So for me, while there’s momentum there, I’m happy that we’re getting the opportunity to not play competitively until September in terms of qualification.”

In scheduling games against Switzerland and Sweden, who were seeded in pot one and pot two respectively in the qualifying draw, O’Neill has handed his young squad two tough tests he hopes will prepare them for what is to come later in the year.

Switzerland visit Windsor Park on Friday before Northern Ireland head to Stockholm next Tuesday. Sweden may be the lower ranked of the two, but in Alexander Isak and Anthony Elanga they have a potent attack despite Victor Gyokeres withdrawing and Tottenham’s Dejan Kulusevski being left out.

“We have to show resilience in these games,” the manager said. “We have to show the ability to be difficult to beat.

“Given we will have to play a pot one team in either Italy or Germany in the World Cup qualifiers, Switzerland are a very good benchmark for that. They are an excellent team who consistently do well in tournaments.

“I think Sweden are a very good benchmark for a pot two team, possibly the best pot two team around at the moment with the strike options they have. All those things are important. You can’t go into the (qualifiers) without giving the lads that level of opposition to play against.”