Michael O’Neill and Northern Ireland set sights on ending 40-year World Cup wait, starting with Luxembourg clash

Northern Ireland begin their World Cup qualifying campaign in Luxembourg on Thursday night

Michael O’Neill maintained he was every bit as thrilled about launching a fresh World Cup qualifying campaign as his youthful Northern Ireland squad ahead of tonight’s Group A opener in Luxembourg.

The bulk of O’Neill’s team will be experiencing their maiden World Cup qualifying adventure during this week’s away double-header, with a journey to Cologne to take on Germany following on Sunday.

While O’Neill may have experienced this before as both player and manager, the reward remains an enticing prospect as Northern Ireland aim to secure their first World Cup finals appearance since 1986 – two years prior to O’Neill’s international bow and before any of his current players were born.

“You are always excited,” O’Neill said. “This is a chance to go to the World Cup and I’m no different to the players. It comes around every four years to get the opportunity to do it.”

Northern Ireland touched down more than two hours behind schedule in Luxembourg on Wednesday evening following complications with their charter aircraft, compelling them to scrap their pre-match press briefing and instead address travelling journalists at their accommodation.

However, O’Neill stressed this would have zero effect on their preparations, with the crucial groundwork already completed in Liverpool during the week.

“No problem at all,” he said. “The players were fine. It’s just a bit frustrating because when you get all your work done and you leave the hotel, you want to try and get here as soon as possible and get in the hotel.

“But the fact is, we’ve had three great days training at Liverpool. We did our matchday session that we would normally do here, we did it at Liverpool today. We’ll have one session in the morning, just to re-run things and touch on a few things like set pieces again. And we’ll be ready to play.”

Since his return to the role in 2022, O’Neill has pressed ahead with the comprehensive rebuild of this Northern Ireland squad that started under Ian Baraclough.

With a crucial qualifying campaign now upon them, the 56-year-old sounds like a boss content with his young side’s progress.

“I’ve felt good about my team for a while,” he said.

“That’s not new. We’ve been on an upward improvement in the last two years. I think that’s reflected in the players’ club situations in a lot of cases as well.

“They’ve cemented themselves as first-team players at their clubs…I think, as a team and a squad, we’re going in the right direction. Hopefully, this campaign will give us the opportunity to show that.”

Trai Hume will once again wear the captain’s armband in Luxembourg, having made a brilliant start to Premier League life with Sunderland, where he penned fresh terms last month.

“I’d like to say it’s been difficult but obviously we’ve done quite well!” Hume said of making the leap to the top flight, where Sunderland have claimed victory in two of their first three matches. “I’ve always wanted to test myself at the highest level so getting the chance to do that this season is a dream come true. Hopefully I’ll keep playing and keep being able to do it.”