O'Neill wants McPake to be pied piper for Northern Irish Published on Saturday 2 June 2012 02:01 Scotland-born James McPake is set to make his Northern Ireland debut against the Netherlands tonight, with manager Michael O'Neill hoping to persuade up to half-a-dozen players to follow his example. Coventry defender McPake, who ended last season captaining Hibernian, is with the Northern Ireland squad for the first time in Amsterdam this week after switching his allegiance earlier this year. He qualifies by virtue of his grandfather and O'Neill, in a bid to expand the squad he inherited from Nigel Worthington, has been busily investigating other players who may be eligible for Northern Ireland duty. McPake - who spent the second half of the season on loan at Hibernian and is in talks about a more permanent move to Easter Road - is the only one to have agreed so far, but O'Neill revealed private conversations had been held with several others and he hopes to turn more heads before the World Cup campaign gets under way in September. And the sight of McPake, who had accepted a Scotland call would never come, stepping out to face the likes of Robin van Persie and Arjen Robben at the Amsterdam ArenA may be just the encouragement they need. "James has come in, it's his first time in the squad and a first for him in terms of his association with Northern Ireland and he has really embraced the whole thing," said O'Neill, himself a former Hibs player. We have to look at others. We're no different to any other country, like Scotland, Wales or the Republic of Ireland. Finding more players who are eligible is a huge part of international football for smaller nations and we're no exception in that respect. There's a huge focus on building the depth of the player pool that is available between now and September. There are up to half a dozen players I've spoken to who have yet to make that commitment. They haven't said no but they haven't committed yet. I don't think it's anything you get a really quick decision on but it's a work in progress. O'Neill is without a host of senior men - including Aaron Hughes, Steven Davis, Jonny Evans, Chris Brunt, Chris Baird and Gareth McAuley - for the clash. With expectations so low against a side who are among the favourites for Euro 2012, O'Neill could be forgiven for experimenting. Instead, he insists he is using it as vital preparation for future qualifying trips. "You have to approach it the same way as you would approach a qualification game," said O'Neill. You try to get home with some type of positive result and that's exactly how we'll approach this match. We go to Russia in September and Portugal in October and we'll approach those games in a very similar fashion to this one. The Dutch team are probably better than either of those sides, but the experience of being out here - in such a magnificent arena to play in - will be invaluable when we go into those qualification games. For the Netherlands, all eyes will be on the centre forward position as the Dutch play their final friendly before the Euro 2012 finals. It is unclear whether English Premier League top scorer Robin van Persie or the leading Bundesliga goal-getter, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar will get the nod. The issue - the last major piece to fit into the Dutch jigsaw - is becoming a national obsession. Van Persie is seen as having the edge because of his stand-out Premier League form, but Huntelaar has a formidable scoring record for the Netherlands.