Soccer: McCann rocked by injury misery

West Ham’s Grant McCann faces five weeks on the sidelines after his full Northern Ireland debut ended in disaster.

McCann was stretchered off during Northern Ireland’s disappointing goalless draw against Liechtenstein with damaged medial ligaments.

The 21-year-old, whose two previous senior caps had been as substitute, left the tiny Rhinepark Stadium on crutches and the Irish medical team estimate he will be out for around four to five weeks.

Manager Sammy McIlroy was gutted for McCann, who had started his first match for the Irish as an emergency left-back.

He said: ‘‘It looks bad. He’s got a medial ligaments injury, which is a shame for the boy on his full debut.

‘‘His knee has swollen up and he’s had to leave the ground on crutches.

‘‘He got it in a blocked tackle and that’s just one of those things. We’ve examined him and it looks like he will be out for four to five weeks.

‘‘It’s a real shame because I thought the boy did well and he got a lot of the ball. But that’s football. These things happen and there’s not a lot you can do about it.’’

McCann’s injury put the seal on what was a hugely-disappointing night for Northern Ireland.

They never really got going in the first half and their hopes of improving after the interval were snuffed out on 48 minutes when Steve Lomas was sent off for the first time in his international career for supposedly elbowing striker Thomas Beck.

McIlroy admitted that Lomas raised his arm, but denied his skipper had elbowed Beck, whom he accused of play-acting.

Lomas will now serve a one-match ban for Northern Ireland’s glamour friendly against Spain at Windsor Park in three weeks’ time.

Liechtenstein, who are ranked 60 places lower than the Irish at 152nd in the FIFA world standings, might have won the friendly but Mark Williams, who played his first full senior match in seven months, blocked a shot from Thomas Nigg and then Damien Johnson headed Nigg’s follow-up off the line.

Northern Ireland had their chances but David Healy, who had a rare off-night, shot into the side netting and Jim Magilton and substitute Stuart Elliott fired wide near the end.

McIlroy tried to be positive about what was Northern Ireland’s most humiliating result since they lost to Albania in nearby Zurich in 1997.

He claimed the team did well to get a draw after going down to 10 men and that they showed great character.

But he does not expect England to have the same difficulty when they play Liechtenstein in the Euro 2004 qualifiers.

‘‘I think Liechtenstein have improved over the last couple of years, but I think England have a lot more quality than us,’’ he said.

‘‘In any game the first 20 minutes are important and they got everyone behind the ball so that they would not concede an early goal.

‘‘That made it extremely hard for us and although I’m disappointed, we got something out of the game because we didn’t lose.’’