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Ian Baraclough era begins as Northern Ireland face Romania in Nations League opener

Jonny Evans won't feature for Northern Ireland against Romania in Bucharest tonight
Jonny Evans won't feature for Northern Ireland against Romania in Bucharest tonight Jonny Evans won't feature for Northern Ireland against Romania in Bucharest tonight

Nations League: Romania v Northern Ireland (tonight, Bucharest, live on Sky Sports Football from 7.30pm)

THE post-Michael O’Neill 'Green-and-White-Army’ era begins tonight as Northern Ireland start a new competition before the last one has finished.

Manager Ian Baraclough has a hard act to follow and his first game in charge is a testing trip to Bucharest in the first half of a double-header (Norway visit Windsor Park on Monday) which he will use as preparation for the Euro 2021 play-off semi-final against Bosnia-Herzegovina on October 8.

Baraclough will be without Jonny Evans for this Nations League opener. The Leicester City defender didn’t travel to Romania yesterday, dealing a further blow to the new manager who is already without Sunderland defender Tom Flanagan.

Flanagan withdrew last week for personal reasons, with Arsenal's 20-year-old defender Daniel Ballard called up in his place. Ballard, who played for the U21s under Baraclough, was called up by O'Neill for last year's Euro 2020 qualifiers against Estonia and Belarus but has yet to make his senior debut.

Romania are also preparing for a Euro 2021 play-off. Mirel Radoi’s team travel to Iceland (also October 8) with the winners of that game taking on either Bulgaria or Hungary in the Path A final.

Republic of Ireland fans of a certain vintage will have fond memories of playing Romania. With Packie Bonner and David O’Leary the heroes, Jack Charlton’s Boys in Green beat Gheorghe Hagi and the ‘Tricolorii’ on penalties at Italia 90 and there's a link to that game with Hagi's Rangers-based son Ianis hoping to see action tonight.

Northern Ireland have also had success against the eastern Europeans, winning three of the six previous meetings. The countries were in the same group in qualifying for the 2016 Euros and, despite losing 2-0 away, a 0-0 draw at Windsor was enough to ensure that Northern Ireland finished top of the group and packed their bags for France. Romania finished a point behind them in second place but, unlike the North who went on to the knockout stage, they had a dismal tournament; losing to the hosts and also to Albania and finishing bottom of their group.

Their form since has been patchy. Radoi’s team – which could include Alexandru Cre?u, who finished on the losing side when Coleraine beat Slovenia’s Maribor in Europa League qualifying last Thursday - finished fourth in their Euro 2021 qualifying group and lost their last two fixtures 2-0 (Sweden) and 5-0 in Spain.

The North’s last result wasn’t too flash either of course. Ultimately, O’Neill signed off with a 6-1 loss to Germany but his achievement in guiding his side to third in a group that contained the Germans and Holland is not to be sniffed at and Baraclough will feel a little pressure on his shoulders to continue those ‘Bouncing Windsor’ days.

Even without Evans, the new Northern Ireland manager has the personnel to make life difficult for any opposition but the magic moments that conjured up important goals were drying up toward the end of O’Neill’s reign. The North had managed just nine goals in eight qualifiers (conceding 13) while Romania managed 17 in 10 games (12 of them came against the Faroe Islands and Malta).

So, even if players on both sides are a little rusty, goals are likely to be in short supply tonight. A share of the spoils would be a decent debut for Baraclough but the home side will have their sights set on a 2-0 win.