IF he’d taken different choices in life, Ali McCann might be wearing dark blue on the international stage – and perhaps running with an oval ball.
His older brother Ross is a rugby sevens player for their native Scotland, but Ali chose to follow the international allegiance of his Northern Ireland-born dad.
His international boss now, Michael O’Neill, had the opportunity to make the opposite journey and become Scotland manager a few years ago, but now he’s back leading the men in green.
McCann is happy to be working under him and insists he has no regrets about choosing to be backed by the Green and White Army rather than the Tartan version:
“I think I made the right decision. I love coming away here. Ever since I came into the place the whole set-up has been brilliant so I don’t regret it one bit to be honest with you.”
Having worked under Ian Baraclough at U21 level, McCann then graduated to the senior stage with the Leicester man in late 2020, making his debut in the Nations League against Austria.
McCann quickly established himself in the NI midfield, despite difficult times for the team in recent years.
Indeed despite being only 23, he’s almost one of the more experienced players in this particular squad, for Euro 2024 qualifiers away to Denmark then home to Kazakhstan, given the absence of a host of senior men due to injuries:
“I’m sort of in that middle group now, even though it doesn’t seem that long ago I came in and I was the youngest.
“But I’ve loved every minute of it. It’s great seeing the younger lads coming through and seeing the quality we’ve got. It’s just great to be a part of.”
He has recently completed a second season in the English Championship with Preston North End and he believes his involvement with Northern Ireland has helped him at club level, including leading to that move from St Johnstone:
“It has definitely, in terms of coming into the international squad and training and all the games you play; it improves you as a player, playing against top quality players like we will be in Denmark on Friday.
“It makes you better as a player and more rounded as a person, coming in and meeting new people.”
Injury interrupted his season, and he couldn’t quite help PNE into the play-off places, but the elevation of Luton Town gives him hope that Proud Preston could be back in the top flight soon:
“We were kind of in with a sniff [of a play-off place] over the last few games but just fell short, unfortunately. There’s no reason why we can’t go and try to replicate what Luton have done, take that next step.
“It’s a case of seeing what faces come in. We had a few loan players, there’s going to be a bit of turnover at the club this summer, so we’ll see what happens. Hopefully we’ll bring in some quality.”
As for himself, he’s raring to go after his injury-enforced break: “I’m good, I feel good. It was a frustrating time for me and I was out for about 10 weeks but I managed to get back and I’m feeling good.”
McCann and his midfield colleagues will have to be at their best against a Denmark side that can call on Pierre-Emile Hojberg of Spurs, Bournemouth’s Philip Billing, and Manchester United maestro Christian Eriksen.
The last-named is the star of this Denmark team, a stylish playmaker, and McCann admires his quality: “You’ve seen it in the Premier League for years and for Denmark for years. You want to play these players don’t you because that’s the type of games you play football for. I’ll be looking forward to it. It’s not just him, they have a squad full of quality. We will go there with a game-plan and if we get it right we can definitely come away with something.
“You just have got to get close to him, because if you give him time and space to pick passes then he’ll be able to cut you open. I’m sure we’ll need to be aggressive. He won’t like if we get close to him and put a foot in, so that’ll be part of it.”
Inter Milan provided a decent example in the Champions League Final against Manchester City of how to play against superior opposition and McCann acknowledged that O’Neill has been drilling the squad on how to play without the ball in the Parken Stadium:
“Yeah, it’ll be the same for us on Friday – out of possession will be massive for us. That’s what we’ve been doing the last week and I assume we’ll do more of it this week, just to get it right. Because if you do give these teams chances then you’ll definitely get picked off. If we’re all on it and stick to the game-plan then I’m sure that will give us a good chance.”
Denmark lost last time out, beaten 3-2 in a comeback win by their hosts Kazakhstan in Astana, which gives McCann hope – but he’s still a realist:
"It was a shock result for Kazakhstan but it is also not a shock result because they have actually got some good results over the last couple of years. No game is easy at this level and we won't be taking anything lightly.
"It doesn't get any harder than Friday to be honest…but all of the sessions we’ve done have had a purpose, so that bodes well going forward and if we can get it right going into Friday, we give ourselves a big chance.”
