Teenybopper Jonny Evans has vowed not to let Norn iron down should he be picked to defend against Latvia at Skonto on Saturday night.
Evans, who has not played a competitive match since returning to man U from Keano’s Sunderland, is back to full fitness following an ankle injury pre-season.
"I'm ready to play and I wouldn't have any problem playing in a tough, physical match - that would not bother me in the slightest. As long as I'm playing for my country, doing a job for Northern Ireland, then that is all that matters to me," said the sprightly 19-year old.
But Evans is wary of Latvia despite their lowly position ion the Group.
"If you analyse the game last October at Windsor Park against them, it was so tight that it took a moment of brilliance from David Healy to seal the win for us. It was a great victory.
"I'm expecting a similar game on Saturday however we can't always leave the goal scoring up to David. Kyle Lafferty though showed in the last game he can score while I thought Warren Feeney against Sweden was one of our best players.
"I played against Warren last season while at Sunderland and he was extremely difficult striker to mark."
The IFA are still in a futile tug of war with the FAI regarding the loss of Darron Gibson, who is at Man U with Evans. The IFA are claiming that Gibbo is not eligible to play for the republic given that neither his parents nor grandparents were born in the Republic. Despite Evans’ Nordie pedigree he has an Irish passport, for which he is eligible. So, if this were the case then it would suggest that he has acquired his passport by default, as each Irish national has to prove citizenship by descent.
Why the IFA are pursuing this is anyone’s guess. If he wants to play for the beggars then sobeit. The IFA should have made a greater effort to hold on to him when we were shit and they didn’t. However, should the IFA be correct and he is ineligible, then Stanton’s RoI run the risk of losing any points they may pick up in Saturdays game in Slovakia should he feature.
"I've spoken to him about it and I don't think there is a chance of Darron playing for Northern Ireland,” said team mate Evans.
"He's been involved loads of times now with the Republic and as far as I'm concerned he's an Ireland player.
"I'm not up to speed with all the FIFA rules so I suppose it's just a case of wait and see."
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