![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762271958_474_video.jpg\")
<\/p>\nBoth Charles (hamstring) and his midfield partner Ali McCann (arm) will miss the final two games of the campaign through injury, as will defender Brodie Spencer, while Ethan Galbraith is suspended for the game in Kosice.<\/p>\n
The upshot is O\u2019Neill will be forced to field a much-changed team from the one that defeated Slovakia 2-0 in Belfast last month, with Isaac Price the only one of the usual midfield four available.<\/p>\n
Shea\u2019s younger brother Pierce Charles \u2013 Sheffield Wednesday\u2019s highly-regarded goalkeeper \u2013 will also miss out due to injury.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Neill said: \u201cShea’s a huge one because since I came back in he has only missed one game and that was through suspension. It was the Finland game after being at the red card here against Slovenia.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn that period of time, I’ve seen him grow from a young development player at Manchester City to being a key focal point of our team and obviously a key focal point of his club side, Southampton, as well. It\u2019s a huge blow.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’ve had periods without Ali in the past. Ali’s been unlucky with injury and this is another example of that. The injury was so innocuous. For someone to pull your arm and it ends up getting broken. It’s incredible, really, and another big blow.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe missed Brodie in September with a muscle injury and now he’s done his metatarsals. All three lads will be a big loss to us on top of what we already had with Pierce Charles out as well.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Michael O’Neill discusses injury situation ahead of crucial World\u00a0Cup\u00a0qualifiers <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s others around the periphery like Jordan Thompson, Dale Taylor and Jamal Lewis who have missed out during this campaign.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe squad has been tested I think and they’ve stood up to that and showed great character. They’ll have to show that again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, then-Southampton manager Will Still confessed that Shea Charles started a League match will struggling with a hamstring injury, only to be subbed off later in the game.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Neill said: \u201cSometimes players play for their clubs with niggles and we’re not in control of that situation. It is frustrating because if a player gets injured they\u2019re going to miss two games for us. But it is out of our control.\u201d<\/p>\n
O\u2019Neill is now faced with a conundrum with both deep-lying midfielders \u2013 Charles and McCann \u2013 out of action. It\u2019s likely that veteran George Saville will start in Kosice, but the spot beside the Luton Town man in the middle of the park is very much up for grabs.<\/p>\n
Kilmarnock\u2019s Brad Lyons is an option, as is Mansfield Town youngster Jamie McDonnell.<\/p>\n
However, O\u2019Neill may move Crystal Palace man Justin Devenny into the middle from left-wing back and rearrange his defence.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Neill explained: \u201cWe’ve talked about it already amongst the coaching staff. Just in terms of our preparation, we feel we have the right players to slip in there.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Northern Ireland boss Michael O’Neill<\/p>\n
\u201cWe would probably have to be a little bit creative with our selection in the midfield area or we would maybe quite inexperienced in that area.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere’s a balance between experience and asking players to do something a little bit different in this game. If you look at Justin Devenny, for example, he is essentially a midfield player. We’ve asked him to play as a left wing-back and he’s done that exceptionally well.<\/p>\n
\u201cPaddy McNair has played in midfield for us over the years in the past as well, so that\u2019s another option.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are different things that we can look at.\u201d<\/p>\n
One new face in the Northern Ireland squad is former Coleraine midfielder Patrick Kelly, who has impressed at Barnsley this term after joining from West Ham United during the summer.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Neill said: \u201cHe made a brave move. The chance he could have gone on loan in the summer, but he felt he’d be better going on a permanent basis.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’ve watched him consistently, felt he played well in the 21s, so he has earned his place his place in the squad, as has Brad Lyons who is playing well for Kilmarnock.\u201d<\/p>\n
Northern Ireland play Slovakia in Kosice on Friday November 14 before hosting Luxembourg on Monday November 17. A second-placed finish will guarantee Michael O\u2019Neill\u2019s men a place in March\u2019s World Cup Play-Offs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Both Charles (hamstring) and his midfield partner Ali McCann (arm) will miss the final two games of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":548765,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[8928,31133,8543,1144,8538,16,15,1514],"class_list":{"0":"post-548764","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-conor-bradley","9":"tag-michael-oneill","10":"tag-national-stadium-at-windsor-park","11":"tag-northern-ireland","12":"tag-northern-ireland-football-team","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-world-cup"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115492262851131132","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548764","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=548764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548764\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/548765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=548764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=548764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=548764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}