Entered our minds, insists big Josh
“We’ll dust ourselves down after this and go again.”
Magennis is one of eight Northern Ireland players one booking away from a suspension and, while the prospect of sitting out the crunch game on Sunday is a nightmare scenario, the 27-year-old says it will not affect his performance.
“We went from having four players booked to five and then to seven,” he said. “Michael was saying to us that he didn’t expect the lads to pull out of tackles. The reason we’re so successful is that we play with passion and a high tempo.
“But the last thing you want is to get booked. You’ve got to leave that emotion out and play as hard as you can. The most important thing is that come Sunday we are in the World Cup.”
Magennis was reasonably content with the play-off draw but believes the Swiss still pose a huge threat.
“I just felt blessed we were in the draw, especially after the qualifying group we had,” he added. “We knew Italy and Croatia, who we played before when they were missing some players, would be tough.
“But we got a game that we probably would have taken. I have never played against Switzerland, so it’s one of those types of occasions.
“But it won’t be an easy game, far from it. They only missed out on winning their group by losing their final game, so they’ll be full of confidence.”