Interviews

Evans: It's an amazing achievement

JONNY Evans has hailed his Northern Ireland team-mates after they secured their place in the play-offs for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Despite a 1-0 defeat in Norway on Sunday evening, Michael O'Neill's men finished second in Group C and confirmed a spot in November's play-offs by virtue of Scotland's 2-2 draw in Slovenia.

And after their success in the most recent European Championships, the Baggies skipper believes the Green and White Army have a propensity to play down their accomplishments.

"It's an amazing achievement," said Jonny.

"Sometimes we're a bit humble about it and forget what we've done.

"Maybe it'll sink in when the fixtures are announced."

The likes of Italy and Denmark are also confirmed in the two-legged showdowns. And Evans thinks the pressure will be on the bigger nations with a berth at next summer's competition in Russia up for grabs.

"You can see how much it's going to mean for every country to be a part of it.

"There's going to be some big nations in there who would have expected to qualify automatically.

"There'll be some pressure on them."

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