IFA defer decision on Worthington

Nigel Worthington's tenure as Northern Ireland manager will extend to the weekend at least - and perhaps even beyond.

The Irish Football Association are to contact the former Norwich boss on Sunday when the World Cup draw is made in Durban, South Africa.

They are keen to get his advice as to how best the matches should be arranged. It is another sign the governing body want to keep Worthington on board, even though Northern Ireland's dreams of making Euro 2008 were dashed at the final hurdle.

They lost 1-0 to Spain last night, and their hosts finished top of the group ahead of Sweden - who defeated Latvia 2-1.

Now the focus is on the World Cup, and a three-man delegation from the IFA will fly out tomorrow for the draw. President Raymond Kennedy, chief executive Howard Wells and head of international affairs David Currie are attending.

Worthington, whose short contract has now expired, will be waiting at the end of the phone. After the weekend's business, he will have talks with the IFA about a possible permanent role.

Wells said: "We will be in touch with Nigel to see how we should shuffle the draw. It is important to get his input. Once we have done that, we plan to talk to him about the way forward for Northern Ireland and the manager's role.

"He has done a solid job. It is just a shame we had those blips in Latvia and Iceland. Perhaps we should have split those trips up. But it was always going to be difficult for Nigel coming in halfway through the campaign.

"He has no experience at this level. However, the players seem to have taken to him - and that is important."

By finishing third in their Euro 2008 qualifying group, Northern Ireland have taken big strides in the last two years. That should be reflected in their seeding at the World Cup draw - after they beat Spain, Sweden and Denmark in the campaign.