Football: Lawrie issues a warning to Carroll; INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLY: Swit'land v N Ireland.Byline: ORLA BANNON LAWRIE SANCHEZ Lawrence Philip Sanchez (born October 22, 1959 in London, England) is a former Northern Irish football player who is the current manager of Fulham. The son of an Ecuadorian father and a Northern Irish mother, Sanchez went to Presentation College, a private boys' school in confirmed Roy Carroll Roy Eric Carroll (born September 30 1977 in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh) is a Northern Irish footballer currently playing for Rangers in the Scottish Premier League. Background will start in goals against Switzerland tonight - and then claimed the Man United goalkeeper has a point to prove. Carroll is being given a rare run-out ahead of the World Cup qualifiers and the Northern Ireland Northern Ireland: see Ireland, Northern. Northern Ireland Part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland occupying the northeastern portion of the island of Ireland. Area: 5,461 sq mi (14,144 sq km). Population (2001): 1,685,267. boss feels he must grasp the chance for the sake of his career for club and country. Sanchez said: "Roy's got stuff to prove both internally and externally." "He wasn't even on the bench for the Chelsea match at the weekend which he wasn't very pleased about and he needs to prove he's still an international goalkeeper. "It's hard to prove what a good goalkeeper you are if you're sat on the bench so this is a good opportunity for him." Carroll's promotion to the first team in place of regular number one Maik Taylor Maik Stefan Taylor (born September 4, 1971 in Hildesheim, Germany) is a Northern Irish international football goalkeeper who currently plays for Birmingham City. He has an English father and a German mother, and qualifies for Northern Ireland through his British passport which, as means Aaron Hughes should regain the captaincy tonight. "Aaron's been captain before so it's not beyond the realms of possibility he'll do it again," added Sanchez, who was waiting for Michael Duff
It will be interesting to see whether Hughes or Taylor leads the team out for the crunch World Cup opener against Poland on September 4 - a date Sanchez has firmly embedded in his mind. "Everything is being geared towards that match and although I'd love to get a result against Switzerland to say we're six matches unbeaten, it's not the be all and end all be all and end all or be-all and end-all n. The quintessential or all-important element: "Not that the more spectacular athleticism is the be all and end all of free skating. Spins . . . - I want to see gradual improvement. "But the players are confident about it, they know how to score goals and win football matches and they're buoyant about their football now so we'll see." Looking ahead to the World Cup qualifying group Sanchez believes Northern Ireland's best hopes rest with England winning all their games. "If there are any shocks it makes it tougher for the lower-placed teams. The more points they mop up then the rest of us can fight it out for second place - that's my ideal scenario." While Sanchez believes England should have done better at Euro 2004 he thinks they have a great chance of winning the 2006 World Cup - if they can sort out the problem on the left side of midfield. "Their problem is they're an unbalanced team at the moment but they have the ideal profile of a championship-winning team. "They're the ideal age, have the ideal number of caps and have played in the ideal number of tournaments." Sanchez added that it would be a dream to take Northern Ireland to a major finals. "Football is so global now, it's 10 times bigger than when I was growing up. "I'd love to be at the centre of it rather than looking on from the outside and if we could somehow get a group of players together and get to a finals it would be fantastic." CAPTION(S): NET GAINS: Roy Carroll; WING & A PRAYER: Stuart Elliott has set his sights on the left midfield role |
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