Worthington questions British tournament

Poor displays and low attendances have left Northern Ireland manager Nigel Worthington questioning the future of the Carling Nations Cup.

Worthington’s side were thrashed 5-0 by the Republic of Ireland at a half-empty Aviva Stadium in Dublin in their Cup opener on Tuesday, and the Northern Ireland boss said he did not see much point playing against British opponents.

“This tournament has been difficult for everyone and supporters have voted with their feet,” said Worthington.

“Having three games against British-style opposition isn’t ideal and I’d prefer to select foreign opposition.

“Two games at the end of a very long season has made it difficult for us but it’s up to the Associations to decide.”

Northern Ireland have shipped eight goals in their two Nations Caup matches so far and will be hoping for a vastly improved effort in their final match against Wales on Friday.

But Worthington defended his young squad and said they were a chance to defeat Wales, who are also winless.

“There is a lot of inexperience out there and I have to be supportive of the young ones,” Worthington said.

“You can’t buy players in international football so you just have to work as hard as you can with what you have got.”

Wales boss Gary Speed was still fuming about an incident from his side’s match against Scotland which left striker Sam Vokes with a severely bruised jaw.

Vokes is still unable to eat solid food after a clash with Charlie Adam, and Speed said the referees needed to give his players more protection.

“I am not one of these people who like to see yellow and red cards bandied about, but what I do want is my players protected and they weren’t – not at all,” Speed said.

“There were about five or six fouls that went unpunished that if it had been a competitive game would have been yellow and red cards, definitely.”

Speed will make 10 changes to the side which lost 3-1 to Scotland on Wednesday, with West Ham pair Jack Collison and Danny Gabbidon and Cardiff striker Craig Bellamy all expected to start.

Squads: Northern Ireland: Tuffey; Hodson, Cathcart, McAuley, McGivern; McGinn, Norwood, Garrett, Gorman; Feeney, Boyce.

Wales: Hennessey, Gunter, Gabbidon, D Collins, Taylor, Vaughan, Collison, Ramsey, Cotterill, Morison, Bellamy.