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Northern Ireland manager Michael O\u2019Neill understands the excitement around teenage striker Callum Marshall but is eager not to put pressure on the West Ham prospect.<\/p>\n
Marshall is expected to feature in Saturday\u2019s Euro 2024 qualifier against San Marino after returning to O\u2019Neill\u2019s squad this month, and fans are keen to get another glimpse of a player who has already drawn comparisons to Northern Ireland\u2019s record goalscorer David Healy.<\/p>\n
Marshall was denied a dream international debut in June when his late equaliser against Denmark in Copenhagen was ruled out by the VAR for offside, but the 18-year-old will hope for another opportunity against San Marino and in Tuesday\u2019s match against Slovenia.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to put any added pressure on a young lad who is 18,\u201d O\u2019Neill said. \u201cHe\u2019s shown a huge amount of promise. We probably skew that because of the moment in Copenhagen but that was only a moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t think back to when we\u2019ve had a young striker \u2013 they generally come in later\u2026A young striker coming in always excites people.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike every country, you want somebody at the top end of the pitch who can be a natural goalscorer, and without putting any burden on Callum, he has the potential and has shown the potential certainly since we\u2019ve had him in. We\u2019ve seen that he has the attributes.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut he\u2019s only starting on his journey in the game. The signs are very positive and if he has the opportunity to play from the start or play some part of the game, I know he\u2019ll approach it in the right way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marshall is yet another young face in a Northern Ireland squad robbed of experience by injuries, a significant factor in a qualifying campaign that has unravelled since the opening win in San Marino in March with five straight defeats.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s having that resilience which I think you build over time,\u201d O\u2019Neill said. \u201cThis team doesn\u2019t have resilience yet because the players haven\u2019t played enough, they\u2019ve not played through the experience that Jonny (Evans) played through and Steven Davis played through.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s how you build it. That\u2019s where you get it. We have too many players still in single figures in caps to have that resilience. That\u2019s what they will learn when they step forward into the next phase of their international career, that the expectations will be there for us as a team to do better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Evans echoed that view. The Manchester United defender made his international debut in Northern Ireland\u2019s famous 3-2 win over Spain in 2009, and has seen both the highs and the lows since.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy international career got off to a good start and then had a bit of dip but you always find that, nothing is constant,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve got to be able to handle that. It wasn\u2019t until I was 27 or 28 that Euro qualification came around. It\u2019s a long time but you\u2019ve got to keep learning.\u201d<\/p>\n
With Euro 2028 hosting rights having been awarded to the United Kingdom and Ireland this week, there is now the hope of Northern Ireland getting to play at another European finals, and to do so on home soil. However, O\u2019Neill said that tournament is not on his radar yet.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe most important thing is to continue to work with this group of players,\u201d he said. \u201cIt needs a lot of work.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s been a lot of talk about this campaign having not been what we hoped and being disappointing and yes, it has been, but we have to be realistic: this group of players is not ready to qualify for a major tournament.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeven of them are under 21. Fourteen of them are three, four, five caps. We need to grow this group of players into a group ready for the next campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n