Northern Ireland v Austria

DID YOU KNOW?

Corry Evans earned his 50th cap for Northern Ireland in last month’s UEFA Nations League game against Bosnia & Herzegovina in Sarajevo. Here Marshall Gillespie unearths some interesting facts and figures about the midfielder’s half-century of games for his country.

Corry Evans has played a total of 3,203 minutes of international football for the senior side. A total of 1,931 of those minutes have come in European and World Cup qualifiers, 1,058 in friendly matches, 124 in the Nations League and 90 in the Carling Nations Cup.

Evans won his first eight international caps as a Manchester United player despite never having played a first team game for the Red Devils. He made a further 10 senior appearances following his move to Hull City, while his last 32 internationals have been with his present employers, Blackburn Rovers.

His one and only goal at full international level came during Nigel Worthington’s reign when he scored a 70th minute winner in a Euro 2012 qualifier in Slovenia in September 2010. It was the only goal of the game. Since then he has gone 44 matches (2,853 minutes) without finding the net for his country.

Corry Evans’ first ever goal on an international stage was a fairly memorable one! It came in a Victory Shield encounter for Northern Ireland against their English counterparts at Chester in November 2005. His 83rd minute strike gave the U16 Schoolboys side only their fourth ever victory over their illustrious opponents and their first ever on English soil.

The midfielder has only completed the full 90 minutes in 14 of his 50 games for Northern Ireland. He has been replaced in 22 of those matches, while he has been used from the substitutes bench on 14 occasions. Evans has been an unused substitute 12 times, the last being in the 2-1 defeat to Bosnia & Herzegovina at the National Football Stadium back in September.

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