Incoming Northern Ireland manager Lawrie Sanchez revealed at the weekend that he intends to pick Sunderland’s Jeff Whitley for the squad to face Norway in a friendly on February 18.
The squad will be confirmed officially on the morning of Tuesday 10th February, but Sanchez made his plan public on Saturday afternoon.
Earlier that morning he’d made an appearance on Sky Sports’ “Soccer AM” at the station’s west London studios, then travelled to Milton Keynes to watch his old club Wimbledon take on Norwich.
Sanchez also intends to revive the international career of Nottingham Forest’s Danny Sonner, and told the Belfast Telegraph, “Yes, Sonner and Whitley will be in my squad – but that’s about all the surprises there will be.
“I’ve only been in the job two weeks so I haven’t been able to do a lot of work trying to find new players. It will be made up of players who were part of the qualifying series for the European Championships.
“I’ve watched a few players during the past two weeks and I decided to go to Milton Keynes because there was a chance I would be able to see three Northern Ireland players in action.”
The news that Whitley’s international career was about to be revived came shortly before today’s announcement from the FAI that Republic of Ireland manager Brian Kerr has selected Jason McAteer for his squad to face Brazil, also on February 18.
McAteer has missed 13 internationals since limping off the pitch when Ireland lost to Russia in September 2002. Kerr said “He’s never been available for games since I’ve been in because of injury but he’s been in the side at Sunderland recently and is doing well.
“We’ve chopped and changed a lot there and Jason was Mick’s regular there so we can see how he’s doing.”
McAteer is Sunderland’s sole representative in the RoI squad, with Colin Healy a long-term absentee and Gary Breen short of match fitness.
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