Ian fears the Irish may pay penalty
Tomorrow, 7.45pm
IAN BARACLOUGH is cursing Jorginho’s late penalty miss because it makes Northern Ireland’s task against Italy tomorrow even harder.
Roberto Mancini’s European champions would have qualified automatically for the World Cup had the Chelsea midfielder converted his 90thminute spot-kick to beat Switzerland on Friday.
But Jorginho’s miss means Italy remain level with the Swiss and need to beat Northern Ireland at Windsor Park to book their ticket to Qatar.
The Irish want to hang on to third place in the group and manager Baraclough – who hopes key man Paddy McNair will recover from groin and hamstring trouble – fears the Azzurri will be fired up.
Of Jorginho’s penalty, Baraclough – who saw his side beat Lithuania
1-0 on Friday – said: “I would have preferred that to have gone in.
“They made one or two changes but they’ve got to come here now and win the game to ensure qualification.
“We know what a battle it will be. We know what’s against us. We’ve now got to get ourselves rested and be ready for Monday night.”
Northern Ireland’s World Cup dream died last month and Baraclough blooded Nottingham Forest striker Dale Taylor, 17, against Lithuania as he prepares for the Nations League in June.
Taylor, who has yet to play a senior game for Forest, was positive in his debut off the bench and Baraclough says he is taking international football in his stride.
“He’s just not been fazed by it all,” he said.
“There were a couple of times in training, he showed a flash of brilliance. I thought, ‘Go on, give him a chance’.
“He will be better for this experience.”