Northern Ireland v Switzerland 08SEPT

WORDS: DARREN FULLERTON DAILY MIRROR

Thursday’s thumping 4-1 win over Lithuania at the LFF Stadionas has revived hopes that boss Ian Baraclough and his players can muscle their way into the race to Qatar. And while Evans was frustrated to miss out through injury, he hopes Northern Ireland use their Vilnius victory as a launchpad for the remainder of the Group C campaign. The Sunderland captain said: “It’s going to be a really big night against Switzerland and the win over Lithuania has set this game up really nicely. “With it also being in front of supporters again, the noise will be electric. “I hope we use that support and atmosphere to really go at the Swiss, try to get another win over the line and really kick on in our qualifying campaign. “The aim going into this double header was to keep our hopes alive and really have something to play for heading into October and November.” Despite producing a series of positive performances over the past 12 months, last week’s win in Lithuania was only the second competitive victory for Northern Ireland in 11 outings. It was also the first win of the FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifying series following a 2-0 defeat to Italy, who went on to win the Euro 2020 finals, and a scoreless draw with Bulgaria in Belfast in March. But Evans, who joined Sunderland from Blackburn Rovers in July, believes it was only a matter of time before Baraclough and his players got their campaign up and running. “I do think some of our performances before Lithuania were good, and while we lost to Italy you could see how good they were when they won the Euros,” he said.

“Drawing at home to Bulgaria wasn’t ideal , but if we can come out of these two qualifiers with two positive results then it gives us something to build on.” Evans is pleased with the decision to permit 16,000 supporters to attend tonight’s qualifier. He pointed out : “It’ ll be great for the players to have fans back because we have missed them. “I know the lads will relish having a near full capacity back. Everyone talks about the atmosphere in the stadium and as a player you do feel it . “I’m sure our fans can’t wait to get back into the stadium and they always give you an extra drive. It’ ll be great to have that back again.” Evans needs little reminding of the last time Switzerland came to the National Football Stadium at Windsor Park - for a vital World Cup play-off in 2017. Pre-VAR, he was wrongly adjudged to have handled the ball with the Swiss scoring a resulting penalty and going on to reach the finals 1-0 on aggregate. “You still probably look back and wonder what might have been - but you have to move on,” said Evans. “We have a new manager and new players in the squad and our aim now is to try to get to another major tournament .”

IRISHFA.COM

23