FRIENDLY RESULTS OF NO CONCERN TO O’NEILL

MARTIN O’NEILL is not worried by the result of tonight’s friendly with Mexico once it served its purpose as preparation for Sunday week’s World Cup qualifier with Austria.

The Irish boss has dismissed the importance of the outcome of an encounter that gives O’Neill the chance to experiment, with a switch to a three-man defence at the Metlife Stadium very much on the cards.

World rankings could become significant later this year if Ireland end up in a playoff and O’Neill is aware of other nations that have dodged friendlies or picked them selectively to manage their position on the list.

However, he wants to use the Mexico game to aid players that are in need of minutes on the pitch ahead of the Austrian date in Dublin. Ireland also play Uruguay at the Aviva Stadium this Sunday.

“The friendly games don’t concern me at all. If that’s what we were judged by, we would do exactly what some other nations do – Switzerland and Wales don’t play them at all,” says O’Neill, who was asked a question about avoiding a repeat of a 5-1 drubbing to Portugal at the Metlife Stadium in 2014.

“If you looked at the side that we had playing that night against Portugal, who were actually participating in the World Cup a week later, 10 days later, it doesn’t really bother me in that sense. The most important aspect is to get prepared for the game against Austria, which is the be all and end all.”

Over 33,000 tickets have been sold for tonight’s game.