Worthington looks for cheer

Thursday, 01/09/2011

by Malcolm Cox

On the back of their recent 4-0 victory over the Faroe Islands, Northern Ireland are in a fantastic position in Euro 2012 qualifying Group C.

Italy seem almost certain to win the group and qualify automatically, however, the race for second place is wide open. This week’s qualifiers against Serbia and Estonia could see Northern Ireland move to second in their group and put themselves in pole position for a play-off place.

Slovenia currently sit second on 11 points but have played a game more than Nigel Worthington’s men. Qualification will mean more to Worthington than most, as he played for Northern Ireland the last time they qualified for a major tournament finals back in 1986.

Worthington will welcome back Kyle Lafferty and Chris Brunt after both missed Northern Ireland’s 4-0 demolition of the Faroe Islands. The 40 year-old Maik Taylor also returns to the squad as cover for Lee Camp. Josh McQuoid of Millwall makes a return after injury. However it’s not all good news as Burnley’s Martin Paterson will miss out through injury.

Serbia will pose the biggest threat to Northern Irish qualification while many pundits predict a comfortable win over Estonia.

Birmingham City’s Nikola Zigic will be a huge aerial threat upfront with former Liverpool midfielder, Milan Jovanovic, pulling the strings from midfield. Nemanja Vidic will be marshalling a very tight Serbian defence so the Ulstermen will have to be at the top of their game to secure the result they need.

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