Kosovo v NI: Arsenal defender Daniel Ballard says players owe fans a win
- Published
Daniel Ballard gets down low to head clear in last week's defeat by Greece at Windsor Park
Nations League: Kosovo v Northern Ireland | |
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Venue: Stadiumi Fadil Vokrri, Pristina Date: Thursday, 9 June Kick-off: 19:45 BST | |
Coverage: Radio coverage on BBC Sounds and Radio Foyle; highlights on BBC One NI (23:20 BST) and live text commentary, match report & reaction on the BBC Sport website |
Northern Ireland players owe fans a win after a poor start to their Nations League campaign, says Daniel Ballard.
NI lost their opening group game 1-0 to Greece before a disappointing goalless draw in Cyprus on Sunday.
"The support is so amazing and you want to repay them as much as you can," said Arsenal defender Ballard.
Ian Baraclough's side face Kosovo in Pristina on Thursday, looking for a first win in the competition in 12 matches.
"It has been tough recently with results but ultimately everything we do is to give them a good result," added the 22-year-old.
"The players had put a lot of work into these fixtures and we probably haven't played as well as we know we can do.
"It's the third game, we have played two 90 minutes now and there are some new relationships being built in the team. Sometimes it takes a little bit of time to build those relationships and when you are spending a long period of time together you grow as a group.
"I feel like the lads are really coming together throughout the last week and if anything we are more confident having looked back on the last two games. We can do a lot better and that is exciting for us."
Kosovo's short footballing history
Alain Giresse's side opened the group with a 2-0 away win over Cyprus, grabbing two second-half goals in Larnaca, before losing 1-0 at home to Greece three days later.
The country's footballing history is short, but impressive. Though the nation declared independence in 2008 and played a number of friendlies, it was not until 2016 that they played their first competitive international.
After struggling in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, they topped their Nations League group a year later to earn a play-off place for Euro 2020, which they lost to North Macedonia.
Manager Giresse - the three-time French player of the year who played alongside Michel Platini, Luis Fernandez and Jean Tigana in their Euro '84-winning side - was appointed in February.
He has overseen a 5-0 win over Burkina Faso and a 1-1 draw with Switzerland in the March friendlies before starting the Nations League campaign last week.
With a similar sized population to Northern Ireland - approaching two million - Kosovo have produced some notable players in recent years, including Napoli defender and international captain Amir Rrahmani, Norwich winger Milot Rashica and Mallorca forward Vedat Muriqi.