![\"Northern](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/8aad84b1-4518-4ce6-9800-9c5acab2bf04.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Northern Ireland defender Paddy McNair<\/p>\n
Northern Ireland defender Paddy McNair is a doubt for this week\u2019s World Cup qualifiers with Luxembourg and Germany.<\/p>\n
The experienced centre back has struggled with injury since signing for MLS club San Diego. On Sunday evening the former Manchester United player returned to the American club\u2019s starting line-up after a long-stint on the sidelines, where he was tasked with marking LAFC\u2019s new star signing Heung-Min Son.<\/p>\n
However, McNair\u2019s return lasted just 55 minutes. He limped off after a collision with Venezuelan international David Martinez, seemingly aggravating the nagging leg injury.<\/p>\n
![\"San](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/b1416ceb-b353-4187-a2ea-0568394a6965.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
San Diego and Northern Ireland defender Paddy McNair<\/p>\n
McNair is due to join the rest of the international squad today, however he is now an injury doubt for the away double-header with Northern Ireland set to play Luxembourg on Thursday and Germany in Cologne on Sunday.<\/p>\n
With Dan Ballard and Ciaron Brown out injured, McNair\u2019s absence would leave Northern Ireland understaffed at centre back.<\/p>\n
Bolton Wanderers captain Eoin Toal and Sunderland\u2019s Trai Hume are expected to start in the heart of the defence alongside McNair. If McNair misses out it could open the door for Norwich City\u2019s Ruairi McConville or Motherwell\u2019s Kofi Balmer. Alternatively, Michael O\u2019Neill could drop midfielder Shea Charles into defence or revert to a back four.<\/p>\n
Blackpool forward Dale Taylor is another injury doubt, after he limped out of the Seasiders\u2019 1-1 draw with Bolton on Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Northern Ireland defender Paddy McNair Northern Ireland defender Paddy McNair is a doubt for this week\u2019s World Cup…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":389642,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[58911,1144,8538,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-389641","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-keith-bailie","9":"tag-northern-ireland","10":"tag-northern-ireland-football-team","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115129968522340897","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389641\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/389642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}