READING FC duo Oliver Norwood and Hal Robson-Kanu hope to fulfil their football dreams by reaching the 2016 European Championships in the next week, writes Anthony Smith.

Norwood’s Northern Ireland and Robson-Kanu’s Wales are on the brink of qualifying for next year’s  finals in France.

Northern Ireland have not reached the finals of a major competition since ex-Reading FC striker Jimmy Quinn helped fire them to the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.

And Wales have had to wait even longer as the last time they qualified was for the 1958 World Cup.
Neither country has, in fact, made it through to the finals of the European Championships.

However, all that could change in the next week.

Northern Ireland will secure their place in France next year if they can beat bottom-of-the-group Greece at Windsor Park tonight.

Wales, meanwhile, require just one more point from a trip to Bosnia-Herzegovina this Saturday or the home fixture against whipping boys Andorra in Cardiff next Tuesday.

Norwood told the Chronicle: “It’s exciting times for us with Northern Ireland on the cusp of history.
“If we beat Greece it’s over and done with. I’m not getting too carried away, but what better way to finish the season than going to the European Championship finals.

“It’s would be a fantastic achievement. It’s been five years in the making and we have worked so hard.”

Michael O’Neill’s men also travel to Finland on Sunday, and Norwood added: “We had some disappointing results in our World Cup qualifying campaign but we stuck by the manager, stood by him and rightly so.

“We enjoy training and we love playing for him, I think you can see that in our performances.

“We knew something exciting was happening because of the way we started the qualifying campaign with a win in Hungary.

“We won the first three games and we could sense something special, that the time was right.

“It feels like it’s our time now and we have to make the most of it when we play Greece.”

Meanwhile, Robson-Kanu and Reading teammate Chris Gunter are also on the verge of qualification with Chris Coleman’s Wales side, who were boosted by the return of Gareth Bale from injury this week.

Robson-Kanu has become one an unsung heroes in Coleman’s Dragons side who have risen above England to No.9 in the world rankings.

The Royals winger declared: “It doesn’t get much bigger than this. To play in a major championships is what I have always dreamed of.

“Coming from the Academy at Reading, it’s obviously a massive thing. We’re high up the world rankings now which is through hard work and consistency. We’ve won a lot of games and we will try to maintain that and keep it going."

He added: "If we do get there I’m sure we will try and do something special. We’re fully focussed on achieving qualification and we’re going to enjoy it.

“There are still two games to go but it’s taken a lot of hard work to reach the top of our group. We are where we want to be and we will look to finish it off and get a result as soon as possible which is Bosnia away.

“The preparation has gone well for Saturday and again next Tuesday. Then after that we’re back at the Madejski Stadium for another big game against Charlton.”

Meanwhile, Reading captain Paul McShane is in the Republic of Ireland squad for a home qualifier against Germany tonight (Thursday) and a trip to Poland on Sunday, though Stephen Quinn misses out through injury.

Michael Hector and Garath McCleary are with the Jamaica squad for a friendly in South Korea next Tuesday.

Goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi will travel to his native Oman for 2018 World Cup qualifiers against Iran and India.

Paolo Hurtado’s Peru take on Columbia and Chile in back-to-back World Cup qualifiers, while Danny Williams’s USA face Mexico this Sunday and Costa Rica next Tuesday.