Dan Ballard injury update from Northern Ireland for Sunderland

The fact that defender Dan Ballard’s ankle did not sustain any significant injuries in the victory over Southampton has given SUNDERLAND cause for celebration.

Ballard was injured briefly during Saturday’s thrashing of the Saints, and although the former Arsenal defender continued and finished the match, he got treatment afterward and didn’t join up with Northern Ireland until 24 hours beyond the original schedule.

The 23-year-old is still a serious doubt for Northern Ireland’s away Euro 2024 qualifier in Slovenia on Thursday night. Michael O’Neill’s team then travels to Kazakhstan on Sunday. Ballard has subsequently undergone a scan on the injury, which produced positive results.

Though it goes without saying that Sunderland will be greatly relieved and encouraged by the news that there isn’t much severe damage, the situation will be constantly watched.

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Daniel is still a question, according to O’Neill on Wednesday night.

We’ll monitor his condition in the morning. After being separated from us for 24 hours, he rejoined us yesterday. He has just undergone a medical evaluation, so we will need to decide whether he is well enough to participate or if Sunday would be a more reasonable goal for him.

“He suffered a blow during the match on Saturday. He blocked a shot, and the way he landed caused the opposing player to land on him. An ankle injury, that is. He has been scanned by us. There isn’t any significant injury; the only issue at hand is how he is currently handling his pain.

 

 

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Northern Ireland’s aspirations for the 2024 Euros, according to Sunderland defender Trai Hume, are still alive.
The full-back for the Black Cats will represent his nation tonight when they play Slovenia in Ljubljana.

Despite a season thus far marred by injuries, Sunderland defender Trai Hume thinks Northern Ireland still has a chance to make it to Euro 2024. The team led by Michael O’Neill has made the trip to Slovenia for tonight’s first match of a doubleheader there despite having only three points from their first four qualifiers in Group H, all of which came from a victory away to San Marino.

Since then, Northern Ireland has lost three straight 1-0 matches—against Kazakhstan on Sunday and Finland at home—as well as a close loss to Denmark in Copenhagen. Although Shayne Lavery and Dale Taylor have joined injured players Stuart Dallas, Steven Davies, and Black Cats teammate Corry Evans on the sidelines, Hume feels Northern Ireland can strengthen an already strong defense with the return of forwards Josh Magennis and Conor Washington.

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We discussed having the fewest goals allowed in the group in our meeting yesterday, according to us and Finland, Hume said. “Defensively, we’ve been fine, but offensively, we haven’t done our best. Perhaps we haven’t seized our opportunities or haven’t provided enough opportunities for the strikers during the buildup. Obviously, there is room for improvement in all areas, but we can win more games if we score more goals.

With four games completed, Finland and Kazakhstan each have nine points, followed by Denmark and Slovenia with seven. At this juncture in the campaign, according to Hume, nobody is out of reach.

 

“The mood is still very high,” he declared. “Results haven’t gone our way, but as a team, we still believe we can get something from the group because it’s open,” the team member said. It’s all fairly even; nobody really has the upper hand. We believe that two victories would put us exactly where we want to be if we had these two results.

Hume looked set to be chosen again since Conor Bradley, his major competition on the right side of defense, was on that extensive injured list. Hume started both of Northern Ireland’s qualifiers in June.