Northern Ireland do not begin their World Cup qualifying campaign until September 4 but Michael O’Neill will already have a starting XI for the trip to Luxembourg in his mind.

Paddy McNair does not believe Tuesday’s 5-1 friendly defeat to Sweden will drain the confidence of the Northern Ireland youngsters.

As the Northern Ireland players left the Strawberry Arena on Tuesday night, the key message in media interviews was that they had to learn from the 5-1 defeat in Sweden.

Michael O’Neill has explained why he didn’t give Ronan Hale his senior Northern Ireland debut in the 5-1 defeat away to Sweden on Tuesday night.

Northern Ireland Under-21s concluded their friendlies in Turkey with an impressive 1-0 win over Uzbekistan.

Isaac Price insisted that Northern Ireland must learn lessons from their 5-1 hammering against Sweden in Stockholm to ensure they are ready for the World Cup qualifiers later this year.

If you thought you might find Michael O’Neill in a quiet corner of the Culloden Hotel muttering to himself ‘We can win the World Cup” then think again.

It was a difficult night in Stockholm for Northern Ireland as Sweden won this international friendly 5-1. Here’s how the players rated.

This was a bitterly harsh lesson for Northern Ireland’s young guns.

Michael O’Neill has insisted that Northern Ireland will treat Tuesday night’s friendly in Sweden like a World Cup qualifier.