Northern Ireland v Bulgaria

Words Mark McIntosh The Sun

READY TO RISE TO CHALLENGE ONCE AGAIN George Saville believes the best way for Northern Ireland to get over Euro play-off final heartbreak, and the defeats to Italy and USA over the past week, is to start building momentum.

Despite only making his Northern Ireland debut in 2017, the 27-year-old former Millwall ace admits he sees himself as one of the senior members of Ian Baraclough’s squad. He won his 28th cap against the USA in the friendly in Belfast on Sunday and also featured as a sub in the World Cup qualifier against the Italians last week. He pointed out: “It’s only been three years or so but it does feel as though it is longer than that. “I absolutely love coming away with Northern Ireland and playing at international level. Thankfully I made a good impression when I first came into the group and I’ve been able to work my way into the team quite a bit. “I have loved it all but the disappointment of missing out on the Euros after the Slovakia play- off defeat was hard to take. It’s nice to get this campaign under way, to press the reset button.”

The Middlesbrough midfielder says challenging for a place at the World Cup final tournament in Qatar in 2022 is a perfect opportunity to get the agonising defeat to Slovakia last year out of the team’s system. “The Slovakia defeat was partly my fault. I know we lost 2-1 but the first goal was sloppy from me,” said Saville. “I do think about that from time to time. It’s difficult just to brush off the play-off defeat if I’m being honest. Our future was relying on one game after a lot of hard work had gone in. We had tough games in Germany and the Netherlands and tough summer games in Estonia and Belarus, but it all came down to 90 minutes, or 120 minutes as it turned out, against Slovakia. “There was so much emotion and there wasn’t much anyone could say. Of course we were upset and sad but it’s more than just a loss and moving on. It’s good this campaign has come around quickly and we will get stuck into that.”

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