Northern Ireland v Belarus: Trai Hume targeting win in Nations League tie
Sunderland defender Trey Hume says Northern Ireland need to “back up” their last Nations League performance and try to win their group title as they prepare for Friday’s game against Belarus.
Michael O’Neill’s side beat Bulgaria 5-0 in their last game and are now top of League C Group 3 heading into the final two group games.
“It was a great result. The fans enjoyed it and we enjoyed it,” Hume told BBC Sport NI.
“It’s hard to win games like this and hard to back it up, but the most important thing is to try and get the three points.”
Northern Ireland will complete their campaign away to Luxembourg on Monday after Belarus visit Windsor Park on Friday night.
O’Neill’s side have enjoyed good results at home, winning their past four games in Belfast – and Hume is keen to continue that momentum.
“Almost every time we play at Windsor Park we get a result or perform well so we just have to keep it up,” he said.
“The fans are as good as ever so they just have to keep pushing us and hopefully we can keep winning for them.”
Victory would bring more than just home pride to Northern Ireland.
Securing them top spot in their Nations League group could open a backdoor route to the 2026 World Cup final via the play-offs.
Hume added: “We need to do our best to back up (our late performance) in the next two games and try to win the group.”
“The Euros didn’t go the way we had hoped and we had a lot of performances and a lot of results, so on that basis I think we’ve done really well over the last 18 months.
“This is a young team and we just have to continue to get better.”
