On a day when the focus will be as much on what occurs off the pitch as what happens on it, the Northern Ireland manager Sammy McIlroy will at least be able to aid the creation of a hopeful atmosphere by fielding a reasonably strong team against the Czech Republic, ranked fifth in the world.

McIlroy was given some upbeat news yesterday when Keith Gillespie was declared fit after the overnight scare when the Blackburn Rovers winger sustained a pain in the neck. Gillespie trained yesterday morning and is likely to take his place in a midfield quartet featuring Jim Magilton, Neil Lennon and Stuart Elliott, the latter having impressed McIlroy at Motherwell this season.

That will be the key area of Northern Ireland's team, especially as they will be up against players of the calibre of Pavel Nedved, Radek Bejbel, Tomas Rosicky and Karel Poborsky. It is thought that Nedved, in particular, is the reason there will be a clutch of English clubs represented at Windsor Park. Manchester United will be there and Alex Ferguson is known to rate Nedved highly.

Another club collecting tickets will be Fulham, whose interest will lie in the tall presence of Jan Koller. Koller's agent has said that Fulham have moved ahead of Sunderland in the race to sign the Anderlecht forward.

Koller has scored 15 goals in 22 internationals and McIlroy said that his defenders, most likely to include Mark Williams and Aaron Hughes, will concentrate cutting off the "second ball" from the deft Koller. Liverpool's Vladimir Smicer will be the one keenest to profit.

An away win is odds-on, though the Czechs drew their last game in Malta 0-0. The same result would restore wounded Irish pride after the Norway display and give them something to play for in Bulgaria on Wednesday.