The Northern Ireland manager is pleased that uncertainty over whether Belarus would receive visas for the match to be played in Belfast last week has been removed.
“It was hard to prepare,” he admitted.
“Obviously it’s difficult for the Football Association of Ireland with that uncertainty. If you want to play at home, it would have been financially difficult for us to lose.”
“Playing in an empty stadium or even with a limited number of our fans, who could have traveled, would not have been ideal.
“It’s been a bit difficult. We’ve played a few games in Manchester and had really good training camps, so from Sunday evening we’ll be based in Belfast.”
After an emphatic 5-0 win over Bulgaria at Windsor Park last time out, all tickets have already been sold for Friday November 15’s match against Belarus, who are second in the group with six points from three games.
O’Neill added: “The good thing is there’s a lot of positivity around the team at the moment and it’s good for us to be in Northern Ireland when that positivity is there and hopefully that rubs off on the boys. “