Northern Ireland 1-1 Switzerland: ‘Lots of positives’ in friendly draw – Michael O’Neill
Northern Ireland manager Michael O’Neill said from A 1-1 draw with Switzerland on Friday.
Vincent Sierro, who came home midway through the first half, got an excellent early opening after returning home.
Both sides had a chance to hit the winner, but the draw was a fair result as both sides introduced the youth on the bench in a friendly match.
“It would be very disappointing to lose it, we were a little disappointed, we didn’t have a Nick winner,” O’Neal told BBC Sport.
Northern Ireland chose to play a friendly match with Switzerland and Sweden, both of which are the same team as they hope to start the World Cup in September.
O’Neill’s younger side has made great strides over the past 12 months, facing a Swiss team who was eliminated from the euro in the quarterfinals last summer due to England’s free throws, which was seen as a major test.
It was a bright start from Northern Ireland as Price shranks back from the edge of the area, but when Cerro was not marked to go home around the corner, Switzerland equals.
Price, Lee Bonis and Jamie Donley had a chance to win the game, but O’Neill was happy with the players’ efforts to the most consistent team in Europe.
“I think our Switzerland is good,” he added. “For me, sometimes we’re a little passive, but we talked about that throughout the game.
“You always want your team to perform better on the ball, and I think there is always room for improvement.
“But, overall, if you look at the team’s experience, I think it ended up with eight players 21 and under, it’s a very, very young player and we asked for a group of young players and I think they competed very well in the game.”
