The road to Russia 2018 is long enough without having to endure the painstaking return to fitness that has kept Craig Cathcart out of Northern Ireland’s World Cup campaign until now.
When the Watford defender limped out of a 2-0 defeat at Burnley in September, he could never have imagined that a groin injury would prove so difficult to fix as he travelled around Europe in search of a cure.
He finally underwent surgery with Dr Ulrike Muschaweck in Munich in November followed by two weeks of rehab in Qatar.
Cathcart, 28, returned for Watford on New Year’s Day and is ready to resume his international career on Sunday as Northern Ireland face Norway at Windsor Park.