Northern Ireland v USA

GOOD EVENING

A warm welcome to the National Football Stadium at Windsor Park for our first home senior men’s international of the year.

Northern Ireland senior women’s international team coming up. With a coveted place at the UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 finals in England at stake, we play Ukraine twice in five days in a play-off tie. The first leg is in Kovalivka, around 90 minutes from the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, on 9 April with the return being played at Seaview on 13 April. Kenny Shiels will undoubtedly be using all of his experience to outwit the Ukrainian side and the games are sure to capture the imagination of all Northern Ireland football supporters. I wish Kenny and his squad the best of luck in their quest to make it to a first ever European finals. Sadly once again our stadium will be bereft of supporters this afternoon and the GAWA will be restricted to watching the match on television or listening to it on the radio. We understand the health priorities for all of us in society just now, however we all look forward to the day when we can get back to supporting the team as only the GAWA know how. Enjoy the match today!

Today we welcome to Belfast for the first time ever the United States of America and we are delighted to play them in this friendly game. We have spoken to our friends in the US Soccer Federation many times in recent years about a match and at last it has become a reality. Of course today’s match is also a warm-up for our crucial FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifier here on Wednesday evening against Bulgaria. Our campaign to reach Qatar next year got off to a slightly disappointing start on Thursday night in Parma where we lost 2-0 to Italy. Our second half performance in the game against the Azzurri was very positive, though, and we had a number of chances to get a goal back and put the hosts under pressure. With two home games in four days to look forward to now we have an excellent chance to set up the rest of the year to be a memorable one. Special congratulations should, of course, go to our captain Steven Davis who will today (hopefully) play his 126th international match to become the most capped British player of all time, moving ahead of England’s Peter Shilton who has held the record since 1990. This is a phenomenal achievement for Steven who has set the standard for so long and who continues to be our driving force in midfield. I should also mention at this point that next month we have the biggest week ever in the history of the

Patrick Nelson Chief Executive Irish Football Association

7

www.irishfa.com