Nigel Worthington has named his 23-man Northern Ireland squad for their upcoming World Cup qualifiers.
Worthington names 23-man squad for qualifiers
Nigel Worthington has named his 23-man Northern Ireland squad for their upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Poland and Slovenia.
Northern Ireland are currently second in Group 3 behind Slovakia in the race for a place at the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa.
However, Worthington's side have the same number of points with second from bottom Slovenia meaning their upcoming games are crucial.
There is a new face in the Northern Ireland squad with Sheffield United striker Jamie Ward, who has seven Under-21 caps to his name, winning his first senior call-up.
Suspended
Sunderland's George McCartney, Rangers duo Kyle Lafferty and Steven Davis are all suspended against Poland, but are available for the Slovenia clash.
Worthington may need to keep tabs on experienced defender Aaron Hughes in the coming weeks after he hobbled out of Fulham's 2-1 home defeat by Blackburn on Wednesday.
Full Northern Ireland squad: Maik Taylor (Birmingham City), Alan Mannus (Linfield), Jonathan Tuffey (Partick Thistle); Stephen Craigan (Motherwell), Aaron Hughes (Fulham), Gareth McAuley (Ipswich Town), Ryan McGivern (Man City), Chris Baird (Fulham), Jonny Evans (Man United), George McCartney (Sunderland); Grant McCann (Scunthorpe), Chris Brunt (West Brom), Niall McGinn (Celtic), Sammy Clingan (Norwich), Damien Johnson (Birmingham), Pat McCourt (Celtic), Dean Shiels (Doncaster), Steven Davis (Rangers); David Healy (Sunderland), Warren Feeney (Cardiff), Martin Paterson (Burnley), Jamie Ward (Sheffield United), Kyle Lafferty (Rangers).
