Northern Ireland manager Michael O’Neill believes his side’s recent good performances on the road have shown the way to play against Bulgaria on Sunday.
Thursday’s 2-0 win over Luxembourg, which opened their latest Nations League campaign, was their first victory at Windsor Park in 10 months, but the side have displayed some steel on the road in 2024.
Aside from a 5-1 defeat by Spain in Majorca five weeks before Luis de la Fuente’s side were crowned European champions, this year Northern Ireland have beaten Scotland in Glasgow, Andorra in Murcia and achieved a creditable draw with Romania in Bucharest.
While those games were all friendlies, O’Neill feels they displayed characteristics that will serve Northern Ireland well on their travels in the Nations League.
“I think the performances in Scotland and Bucharest were almost like a blueprint for how you would want your team to play away from home,” he said.
O’Neill added: “We gave away very few chances in the games against two teams who were obviously preparing to go to Euro 2024 and we were always a threat on the counter-attack. We could have won the game in Bucharest as well.
“I think that gives you a lot of belief, the younger players in particular, that they can play away from home in difficult atmospheres and still compete and take something from the game.”
While goals remain something of a problem for the side – both against Luxembourg were scored by defenders at set-pieces – Northern Ireland have displayed increasing solidity in defence.
Through O’Neill’s first nine games of his second spell in the post, their only wins came against San Marino, while a 4-0 defeat by Finland was a particular low.
But starting with a win against Denmark in their final Euro 2024 qualifier, they have now kept four clean sheets in six games, all with a changing cast in defence, to set a platform for improved form.
“The biggest difference more than anything has been, Spain aside, we’ve only conceded one goal in six games,” O’Neill said.
“Prior to the Denmark game, we conceded four goals in Helsinki which was a difficult night for us with a very young team.
“Away from home you have to approach the game with a different mentality as well.
“It doesn’t mean that we don’t want to play on the front foot but we have to be somewhat measured in how we approach the game.”
Victory over Luxembourg was just Northern Ireland’s second in 17 Nations League games but a win in Plovdiv would give them early control of Group C3.
O’Neill has openly spoken of how this tournament is to be used to get his young side ready for the start of World Cup 2026 qualifiers next year, but he believes Sunday’s game provides a good barometer for how his squad is developing.
“We’ve made a lot of progress in the last 10 months but the real test of that will be nights like tomorrow against a difficult opponent away from home,” he added.
“These are games that ideally you want to take something from if you want to be a team that can qualify for a major tournament.”