Conor Bradley believes Northern Ireland should go into next year’s World Cup qualifiers confident they can qualify after earning promotion to the second tier of the Nations League.
Monday’s final Group 3 fixture ended in some disappointment after a 2-0 lead turned into a 2-2 draw away to Luxembourg, but Northern Ireland still emerged as group winners to secure a return to League B.
Promotion caps a very positive year for a young side, who have won five of their 10 games and lost only two, one of those a friendly against Spain just a few weeks before they were crowned European champions.
Attention now turns to the draw for next year’s World Cup qualifiers, and Liverpool’s Bradley believes Northern Ireland have every reason to believe they can be in contention.
“Definitely,” the 21-year-old said. “I don’t see why not. We are a young team that has to learn on the job in a way but I feel we are getting better with every game and we can go into the World Cup with hope. I’m really looking forward to it.”
Bradley got his fourth international goal in Luxembourg, doubling Northern Ireland’s lead after Isaac Price’s first-half strike. Luxembourg hit back with two in three minutes late on through Seid Korac and Gerson Rodrigues – but bar a few mad minutes this was another impressive Northern Ireland display.
“I thought it was probably one of our best performances in the whole group,” Bradley added. “We played some fantastic football throughout and then there was a five or 10-minute spell when they were on top and got two goals, which can happen in football.
“It stunned us because we were in total control and it was disappointing but we got through the game after that and were able to top the group.
“I think we deserved to win the game but we will take the draw because we topped the group and that was our aim coming into the Nations League, so we are happy.”
Bradley had a chance to kill the game off in the 65th minute. The chance was similar to the goal he scored but arguably an easier opportunity – Price sent in a cross from the left but, where he had headed in before, this time Bradley screwed a shot wide.
“If I score the third goal for us it probably kills the game,” he said. “It is something we can take massive learning from.”
This is the first time Northern Ireland have topped a group in any competition since qualifying for Euro 2016. The third tier of the Nations League, a competition still to win the hearts of many, is of course not on the same level, but it caps a hugely encouraging 12 months all the same.
“It has been a really good year,” Bradley said. “I’ve really enjoyed it. Playing games regularly for my country is a special thing. I’ve captained the country so it has been a special year and I’ll look back on it with really fond memories.”