Luton midfielder would love to help Northern Ireland reach first World Cup since 1986
Saville comes on during 3-1 victory over Luxembourg
Luton midfielder George Saville admitted he would love to help Northern Ireland reach their first World Cup Finals for 40 years after winning his 61st cap for his country as Michael O'Neill’s side got their qualifying campaign off to the perfect start with an excellent 3-1 victory in Luxembourg on Thursday night.
Jamie Reid had put the visitors in front on seven minutes at the Stade de Luxembourg, but Aiman Dardari levelled with half an hour gone. Shea Charles then netted just after the break, before the hosts were reduced to 10 men on 66 minutes, Seid Korac sent off, as Justin Devenny found the net to ensure Northern Ireland led 3-1 moments later. Saville then came off the bench for the closing stages of the contest to ensure his side picked up three points in their opening match.
It gets that bit tougher next, Saville and his team-mates heading to Cologne to take on Germany, who surprisingly lost to Slovakia in their opening group stage match, as the first-place finisher in each of the 12 groups will automatically secure a spot at the finals, which will take place in USA, Canada and Mexico next summer, while teams who finish in second will progress to the play-off round.
With Northern Ireland not featuring in the tournament since 1986, a realistic Saville told the Belfast Telegraph: “With Germany in the group and one qualifying automatic spot, it’s difficult, we don’t need to dress it up. So the games before and after those two ties are really important. It’d be amazing to reach the finals. Obviously, we all want to achieve the same thing and we all need to be together to achieve it. It would be really special but obviously, one step at a time and one game at a time.”
One thing that Northern Ireland have on their side is that in Saville’s mind they have a stronger squad than recent times, winning promotion back to League B of the Nations League last year, with a number of their players now starting feature in the Premier League on a regular basis too. He continued: “We obviously had a few years of a transitional period where some of the senior lads were coming to an end and now some of the younger lads are coming through. Obviously, some young lads have done really well at club level, which has pushed them into the Premier League.
“Trai (Hume), (Daniel) Ballard, Conor (Bradley) are breaking through with Sunderland and Liverpool and that all helps. These lads have now got some experience in international football and we had a great Nations League campaign, which was brilliant. We’ve had a couple of years where we’ve tried to mould a squad together and get some stability. So now I feel like we are ready for that next step. We’ve been together a while now and we’re in a good place.”
Speaking before the game, one of the main topics in his post match press conference was now being regarded as one of the elder statesmen in the Northern Ireland side, having made his debut some eight years ago. The midfielder, who moved to Kenilworth Road in the summer, added: “I hate speaking about it, but it’s such a big thing in football with this age thing. This is nothing against you guys (the press), but the first thing you ask me is about my age and it’s, like, I’m 32! But because football has gone so young and it’s got like that now.
“I still feel I can play a lot of minutes and a lot of games. I don’t mind being the experienced player in the group. It’s part and parcel of football, obviously. I love being with this group of lads and these boys. We’ve got a great group here and every time we come away we have a bit of a banter about age but genuinely, we’re all just getting on so well. It’s the start of a new campaign and it’s something we’ve all been looking forward to for a couple of months now.”