Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
LET’S FINISH THIS OFF WITH STYLE
can. Three points would be lovely to set us up for a play-off next month.”
While Northern Ireland can still make the play-offs with a defeat in Oslo, O’neill admits trying to predict the final outcomes of other groups is a near impossible task.
He said: “It’s not something you can dwell on too much and a lot of it is out of our control. You go through times focusing on it and others when you think you’re wasting your time, to be honest.
“We have to see what happens in other games but we have a mindset to go and win this game. We just have to make sure we get what we need on Sunday night.”
While Norway have little to play for in the group, Lars Lagerback’s men head into their final pool game on the back of a 8-0 thumping of San Marino.
Lagerback (right), who suffered a 2-0 loss in Belfast in his first game in charge in March, has lost just one of his last five games at the helm, a heavy 6-0 defeat to group winners Germany.
O’neill said: “I’m sure they’ll come into this game looking to finish the group well. Under Lars Lagerback, they’ll want to build momentum and they’ll do that by trying to get a result against us. It’ll be a difficult game. San Marino, as we know, aren’t the strongest nation, but to go there and score eight goals is a very good result.”
Northern Ireland, who flew to Oslo yesterday, have no fresh injury concerns.