Northern Ireland face France in a friendly in Lille on Monday as Michael O'Neill's men look to make life difficult for the World Cup favourites, while also preparing for their own Nations League campaign.
Northern Ireland face France in a friendly in Lille on Monday as Michael O'Neill's men look to make life difficult for the World Cup favourites, while also preparing for their own Nations League campaign.
Michael O'Neill is determined that his Northern Ireland squad will play the role of "badly behaved guests" and upset France's final World Cup warm-up on Monday evening. Didier Deschamps' talent-laden team head into this summer's tournament as strong contenders for the title, with their friendly against O'Neill's side in Lille serving as their grand farewell.
However, Northern Ireland have their own objectives when facing the likes of Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele, as O'Neill continues to challenge his youthful squad ahead of the Nations League campaign. O'Neill said: "It's their party and it's nice to be invited," and "You probably have to be a badly behaved guest and that's what we have to aspire to be in terms of can we make the game difficult for France.
" He added: "But I don't really think we've ever even mentioned that to the players. It's more about the level of the opposition, the quality they have and an opportunity for us to measure ourselves individually and collectively as a team is the most important thing for us.
" France have already experienced disappointment this week after Amad Diallo's 84th-minute winner saw Ivory Coast come from behind to win 2-1 in Nantes on Thursday. He said: "I don't think there's pressure on France," adding, "This is part of their preparation.
"What we have to do is show resilience, show belief, and show the ability which we maybe haven't done in certain games where we can still hurt the opposition despite maybe having limited opportunities, limited possession. Monday's fixture is expected to be vastly different from Thursday's 1-0 friendly victory against Guinea in Cadiz, Spain, where Northern Ireland held firm despite Tom Atcheson's red card in the 72nd minute after he had scored.
Teenagers Kieran Morrison and Ceadach O'Neill both earned their first caps in that match, and manager O'Neill made clear he wouldn't hesitate to field either player – or fellow prospect Braiden Graham – against France.
"What have we got to lose by putting a young player on the pitch in this situation? " O'Neill said. "Age is not a factor for me. The key is keep the team as strong as possible for as long as possible.
"We'll need a lot of energy in the game, there's no doubt about that. But everyone picked here as part of our squad is picked to be ready and available.
" Northern Ireland's squad arrived at this camp still dwelling on the disappointment of March's World Cup qualifying play-off exit, which concluded with a 2-0 defeat to Italy. That anguish will resurface on Monday as they witness another nation receive their grand farewell.
"We're disappointed that we couldn't get it over the line but I think March is something we should learn from," skipper Trai Hume commented. "If we do get ourselves the opportunity in the future, we can go into it better prepared. "
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