Conor Hazard will complete a dream month with an international start for Northern Ireland against USA tomorrow, Sky Sports has reported.
The friendly match is the second of NI’s three-game international break. Hazard only has one international cap to his name back in 2018. However, after being handed the captain’s armband at under-21 level by now senior manager Ian Baraclough, he’s to be given the chance to show what he can do tomorrow night.
Sky Sports reports that Baraclough told them the decision was made before Thursday night’s loss to Italy.
It completes an absolutely incredible month for Hazard. After signing a new contract at the start of it, he was surprise call-up in Baraclough’s squad. Now, he’ll get the opportunity to take Burnley goalkeeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell’s place tomorrow night.
It’s unclear who Baraclough will go for Wednesday night’s World Cup qualifying match against Bulgaria.
Conor Hazard realises Northern Ireland dream; and Celtic starlet can cut it too
It’s fair to say that Hazard attracted both criticism and praise during his mini-spell in the Celtic team back in December. His penalty shootout heroics against Hearts in last year’s Scottish Cup final only came about because he flapped at two balls into our penalty area. That match pretty much summed up his time in goal for the Hoops.
Yet in his seven appearances this season, Hazard has actually bagged four clean sheets. Not a bad return for a young shot-stopper who was given the chance to be Celtic’s number one. Yes, he had his nervous moments, but it’s important to persist with players as young as Hazard. Especially when they’re goalkeepers and playing behind a defence as ropey as ours.
Scott Bain has hardly shown during his time in goals that he’s any better than Conor. In fact, there is leverage there to say that Hazard actually produces more saves than Scott.
Nobody talks about the fact Hazard was able to keep out the likes of Lille’s Jonathan Ikone. Or that he made great stops to deny the likes of Hibs’ Kevin Nisbet and Hearts’ Josh Ginnelly. It all gets overlooked because he’s flapped at a couple of crosses that clearly caused some indecision.
Hazard will certainly get there, as he’s proven already. He can be forgiven for making an error or two here and there. The fact he’s rated so highly by Northern Ireland and Celtic show there’s real potential in there.
Here’s hoping he shines tomorrow against the USA and proves what he’s all about.
In other news, the Celtic fans have been laughing off a late-night report from yesterday.
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