Jonny Evans has admitted that it is even harder to qualify into a major international tournament with his country than to win trophies at Manchester United
While Jonny Evans is only a back up defender at Manchester United, he plays a far more pivotal role in the Northern Ireland set-up. Nevertheless, he has admitted that qualifying into the Euro 2012 would be a bigger achievement than winning any trophies at Old Trafford.
"I think qualifying for a major tournament with Northern Ireland would sort of eclipse anything I could achieve with Manchester United, unless it was something like the treble, really cleaning up," Evans told reporters.
"Definitely, it's a harder task to qualify. I think it's harder to win the Premier League or the Champions League than it is to qualify for a major tournament with, say England.
"But I do believe it's harder for us to qualify for a big tournament than it would be for Manchester United to win the Champions League or the Premier League.
"Saying that, I don't think the lads come here thinking 'we'll just turn up', just look at how hard we work on the pitch."
Northern Ireland face Slovenia this Thursday in a match that could be crucial to their Euro 2012 hopes. But another factor that adds to the intensity is the scenario that took place after Slovenia won a World Cup 2010 Qualification match against them.
Evans added: "When they won the first game at home they were banging on our changing room doors and stuff, it was kind of a weird thing to do.”
"I don't know why they were banging on the doors but it upset a few of the lads. So when we played them next we got a bit of our own back and definitely a few things were being said on the pitch.
"Hopefully we can go bang on their door again tomorrow."
"I think qualifying for a major tournament with Northern Ireland would sort of eclipse anything I could achieve with Manchester United, unless it was something like the treble, really cleaning up," Evans told reporters.
"Definitely, it's a harder task to qualify. I think it's harder to win the Premier League or the Champions League than it is to qualify for a major tournament with, say England.
"But I do believe it's harder for us to qualify for a big tournament than it would be for Manchester United to win the Champions League or the Premier League.
"Saying that, I don't think the lads come here thinking 'we'll just turn up', just look at how hard we work on the pitch."
Northern Ireland face Slovenia this Thursday in a match that could be crucial to their Euro 2012 hopes. But another factor that adds to the intensity is the scenario that took place after Slovenia won a World Cup 2010 Qualification match against them.
Evans added: "When they won the first game at home they were banging on our changing room doors and stuff, it was kind of a weird thing to do.”
"I don't know why they were banging on the doors but it upset a few of the lads. So when we played them next we got a bit of our own back and definitely a few things were being said on the pitch.
"Hopefully we can go bang on their door again tomorrow."
