Scotland and Wales could lie in wait for O’Neill’s NI successor
NORTHERN Ireland’s new manager could face matches against Scotland and Wales in the Nations League later this year.
The draw for the tournament will take place in Amsterdam tonight (5pm) with Northern Ireland confirmed in League B.
They are in Pot Three, like the Republic of Ireland, so all-island groupclasheshomeandawayin the competition are impossible. There is a chance, though, that the Welsh and Scots may be coming to Windsor Park.
Wales are in Pot One along with Russia, Austria and the Czech Republic, so Northern Ireland could face any one of them in their group.
Scotland are in Pot Two with Norway, Serbia and Finland, while other potential opponents are Bulgaria, Israel, Hungary or Romania, who are in Pot Four.
The first matches are scheduled to take place in September, by which time Michael O’Neill’s successor will be in place. Motherwell boss Stephen Robinson, St Johnstone’s Tommy Wright, Northern Ireland Under-21 boss Ian Baraclough and IFA Elite Performance Director Jim Magilton have all been linked.
Later this month, O’Neill will take a break from his duties as Stoke City manager to take charge of the national team in the Euro 2020 play-off semi-final in Bosnia. If his side come through that, he will be boss for a March 31 final at Windsor Park against either the Republic of Ireland or Slovakia.
The players want him to stay on for the finals should Northern Ireland qualify. Either way, the IFA will officially start their search for his successor in April.
In the inaugural Nations League, Northern Ireland lost all four matches to Bosnia and Austria.
For the 2020-21 edition, the two highest-ranked Nations League group winners who fail to win or finish runner-up in their World Cup qualifying groups will get a second chance to play-off for a place in the 2022 finals in Qatar.
England are in League A for this evening’s draw in Amsterdam as one of the top 16 nations in Uefa’s co-efficient rankings. They are in the top pot, but could be drawn against world champions France, or Spain or Italy from the second pot.
Croatia, who England face in the group stage at Euro 2020 this summer having already met in the 2018 World Cup semi-finals and the first edition of the Nations League, are potential opponents once again.
The group matches will be played over six match rounds between September and November of this year, with the finals to be played in early June 2021.
Meanwhile, Republic manager in waiting Stephen Kenny will be awaiting his first list of fixtures, though current boss Mick McCarthy will be at the draw.
McCarthy will need to steer the Republic through the Euro 2020 play-offs in order for his tenure to be declared a success. His brief was to qualify. However, it’s daft that Uefa rules place him in a position where he has to attend a draw that lays out the schedule for his successor.
To be fair, it would also have been unusual for Kenny to be present to discuss the road ahead when the tone of the year will be determined by Slovakia and perhaps beyond.
That will decide when he will stand in the Irish dugout for the first time. It could be in the maiden Uefa Nations League outing in September, or it could be in a summer friendly if McCarthy’s team fail in their mission.
The Republic are only in the play-offs because of their finishing position in the Nations League, even though they finished bottom of their group and were relegated to League C.
The good results prior to that under Martin O’Neill had them in League B, and therefore gave them insurance if they failed to make it through qualifying.
Relegation in the Nations League was one of the reasons cited when the curtain was abruptly closed on O’Neill’s tenure, but Uefa have subsequently altered the rules and the Republic remain in League B.
Teams will this time compete in fourteam groups, as opposed to the threeteam groups of the 2018-19 campaign. The changes mean that 16 teams will now compete in Leagues A, B and C, with only seven in League D. Handily, it saved Northern Ireland from relegation to League C after their poor performance last time round.
The sceptics would suggest it rather conveniently prevented Germany from dropping down to the second tier. Officially, the decision was made to further reduce the number of international friendlies by upping the number of Nations League games. Either way, it means Northern Ireland will compete in League B and will now have six Nations
From the same rather unscientific, potentially unreliable, path the worst-case scenario is: Wales (23), Serbia (29), Northern Ireland (36), Romania (37)
Matchday 1: September 3–5, 2020 Matchday 2: September 6–8, 2020 Matchday 3: October 8–10, 2020 Matchday 4: October 11–13, 2020 Matchday 5: November 12–14, 2020 Matchday 6: November 15–17, 2020
We’ll have live updates on our website www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk from 5pm.