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Niall McGinn wants Northern Ireland to use Thursday’s friendly against the Republic of Ireland to show how far they have come.
The last time the two sides met seven years ago, the Republic ran out 5-0 winners in a Nations Cup clash in Dublin.
But since then Northern Ireland have qualified for their first-ever European Championships and went on to reach the Round of 16 in France two years ago.
McGinn, who came on as a substitute seven years ago with the result already beyond doubt, is sure there will be no repeat at the Aviva Stadium.
“Losing that game was a mbadive disappointment, but I think Thursday is going to be very different,” the Aberdeen forward said.
“There’ll be a bigger crowd, a better atmosphere and we can show how the two teams have progressed since then.
“We can show how we as a nation have progressed mbadively which is going to be good for us. We’re used to going to these types of environments now and doing well. Thursday will be no different.”
McGinn insisted recent successes mean the current Northern Ireland squad has no fear of any opponent.
“I think international football has changed over the years and we as a team have grown in confidence, grown in terms of winning games, and grown in playing in major tournaments,” he said.
“The more you come up against good players the better we play as a team as well. We know we’re capable of beating anyone on the night if everyone turns up. We need to take confidence from the campaigns we’ve had before and use that to our advantage.”
Thursday’s match may be a friendly but McGinn expects a fierce encounter between two sets of players very familiar with one another.
“It will probably be more of a British-style game, there’s a lot of players playing in similar leagues to ourselves and a game with a lot of good players on show,” he said.
“It’s a great arena to play football in. They haven’t been having great results either so it has all the makings to be a good game. We have to take the right approach as we just want to get back to winning ways as quickly as possible.”
Northern Ireland’s recent results have been disappointing to say the least, with Michael O’Neill’s side having lost all three of their Nations League games despite some strong performances.
They face Austria on Sunday in a game which could determine whether they avoid relegation in that competition, and a win on Thursday would be a huge boost to confidence.
“We want to be winning games and we have to use Thursday night as another opportunity to go out and get a positive result” McGinn said.
“If we get a positive result, you usually see in these double-headers, whether they be friendlies of qualifiers, they take care of themselves, obviously with the second game at home.”
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