Ireland entered three international breaks in pole position of Group D this year. And before each break, I wrote articles imploring them to seize the initiative, to gamble big on their advantage. I had every faith they’d do it each time. Even entering the third of those three breaks, I expected them to win in Georgia and go toe-to-toe with Serbia with 1st place up for grabs.
We now enter the fourth international break hanging on by our fingertips.
In my last series of articles, I mentioned that I suffered a broken ankle. The break itself and subsequent recovery have been tough. I took for granted being able bodied and fending for myself beforehand. It’s not something I’d wish on anyone I have time for. Nor is it something I want to experience again. However, watching Ireland playing Georgia in Tbilisi at the end of August did something I never thought possible. They made me extremely grateful I broke my ankle and cancel my trip to Tbilisi. Lying back on the couch watching that game was one of the most uncomfortable experiences I’ve had watching my country. It was that bad, horrific to watch. A display rife with an inability to create or string together a few passes, being outplayed by a team that were ranked 112th in the world at the time. Thing is that even if Ireland had even played 50% better, Georgia were still worthy of a result greater than 1-1. Our old failings, scoring early and retreating, a lack of confidence, hoofing the ball forward aimlessly and relying on half chances all came back to haunt us. The result surrendered our advantage and left us in a predicament. However that took a backseat in favour of overwhelming negativity that took its place in driving seat of criticism aimed at the team and management afterwards.
We now had to beat Serbia the following Tuesday to maintain our hopes of not only trying to win the group but our chances of making the playoffs. Serbia were a different animal from the one we nabbed a point from in the opening game. They were now a far more organised team, brimming with quality. And they knew our situation, as they were quite happy to soak up whatever pressure we applied on the night. Our performance in comparison to the previous game was much better. Not that it would be hard to better it. However, our need for three points was greater than Serbia’s and their game-plan paid off handsomely by catching us out on the break when Aleksandr Kolarov struck a bullet into the roof of the net past Randolph early in the 2nd half. Amidst the negativity from the weekend, along with the infuriating gamesmanship displayed by Serbia and Cuneyt Cakirs inability to punish it, we couldn’t rise above it. 1-0 was how it finished. We are now five points behind Serbia, and more alarmingly, one point behind Wales in third, having held a four point advantage over them less than a week previous.
If the year of 2016 would go down in Irish football history, it’s quite possible we’ll want 2017 stricken from the record. The parallels with our Euro 96 qualifying campaign to the current one are eerie. That was a campaign where Ireland topped the table with 13 points from 15 after five games, grabbing a home win over Portugal at halfway stage. Our next game would see us draw 0-0 away to Liechtenstein, a result that still beggars belief 22 years on. In the remaining four games, we would acquire only 3 points, from an ugly 2-1 home win against Latvia. Coupled with two 3-1 defeats to Austria, Ireland went into their final game against Portugal needing a win to guarantee qualification. We would suffer a 3-0 defeat in the heavy Lisbon rain. Had we conceded anymore, then Northern Ireland could have overtaken us into 2nd place. As the Jack Charlton era was free-falling into tragic end, remarkably, it was the North who done the Republic a massive favour by beating Austria in their final game as it ensured Ireland would enter a playoff against the Netherlands, which we would also lose. Both teams had the ignominy as finishing the worst runner ups out of all 10 groups.
Nowadays the worst runners-up are excluded from the playoffs. And 22 years later, we are still relying on other teams results to get us over the line. Before Thursday evening came around, I was liable to lay into the situation as it stood for Ireland and conclude this article with a prayer. That was before Scotland entered the equation. You remember them? The country I mercilessly had no time for as we battled it out for a playoff spot in Euro 2016 qualifying. The country whose Tartan Army I, and many other Irish fans, were telling to fuck off while we partied towards qualification. Well if we hadn’t returned to liking them again we were flat out roaring for them against Slovakia. Chance after chance after hitting the post twice after chance with an extra man advantage fell their way until they forced Martin Skrtel to score an own goal in the 89th minute. As it stands, they only need a win in their last game away to Slovenia to qualify for the playoffs. Ireland need them to do anything but that. In the space of half an hour, we’ve gone from begging them to win to hoping they don’t win for the rest of the year. If they do fail to win in Slovenia, then all Ireland will need to do is win against Moldova and Wales.
The other threat is Bosnia and Herzegovina. They’re also familiar, as we knocked them out in a playoff to qualify for Euro 2016. As of now, they have two games left against Belgium, who are already qualified, and Estonia, who sit second last in the group. It’s quite possible Bosnia can still gather six points that will be counted in the final tally. The tally in question is for the Ranking of second-placed teams. It rules out the results you’ve obtained against the worst team in your group to determine your points tally. This is what amplified the negative soundbites from our last international outing, the seemingly irreparable damage it had done to our qualifying hopes. Winning our last two games would leave us with 13 points in that table and that seemed like it would not be enough, barring other teams messing up on our behalf. We’d gone from slugging it out for first place to needing miracles to get a playoff spot. Such is the beauty of football that everything has spun on its head to give us hope once more. Oh, and Gareth Bale is out of Wales final two qualifiers. The momentum is slowly building towards the Promised Land once more after nearly a month of despondency.
.
OK, I shouldn’t believe the hype. I orchestrated enough of it this year to have fall flat on my face. We came into 2017 in a superb position and I firmly believed we would rubber stamp our visas to Russia for next year without the need for a playoff. Right now I’ll take a playoff spot no matter how ugly it gets in our next two games. And it was pretty ugly last month. Although I say that, our performance against Serbia was much improved, until we went behind. It suddenly prompted O’Neill to take off Wes Hoolahan, the architect behind our good passing play and put on Daryl Murphy, a target man whose overall contribution to the team shouldn’t go unnoticed in this campaign. However, on this occasion, Ireland reverted to type, lumping long aimless balls into the box with no design, only hope. This was more galling given Serbia had a man sent off in the 68th minute. Much like our advantage against Wales, we still couldn’t make the most of it. It was galling to watch, especially considering that given the opening half, we played some decent football. The football we played with an extra man was infuriating, cowardly even. Our players are far better than route one and we should have showed that when we needed it most.
Ireland need to win both games, regardless of what happens when Wales play Georgia tonight. We will beat Moldova. By how much is irrelevant seeing as those results will be void when it comes but we need goals. Ireland have only scored 6 goals in the calendar year of 2017. Four of them came in friendlies. Shane Long has not scored since the opener away to Moldova in October last year. James McClean is our highest goalscorer this campaign with two, both coming in that same Moldova game. We’ll never see the likes of Robbie Keane again but by jesus I didn’t expect us to suffer a goal drought like this after he retired. The lack of goals has been the catalyst behind the campaign for Seanie Maguire’s international call-up. The Cork man was on fire scoring goals galore for Cork City in the League of Ireland before moving to the Championship for Preston during the summer. Since then he has managed to score twice so far for his new club. He made the provisional squad last time out before being cut but even O’Neill can’t ignore our woeful strike rate. In addition to Maguire, Scott Hogan has received his first call-up to the squad alongside another uncapped forward in Aiden O’Brien. Hogan, who has been on the radar for more than a year finally secured his Irish passport last month and although his start to the 2017-18 season for Aston Villa has been quiet, he scored 15 goals in the Championship last season, more than Daryl Murphy and David McGoldrick (both in the squad) combined. How much time any of these new recruits will get remains to be seen but against Moldova, we shouldn’t fear trying something new up front.
Randolph will remain our No.1. You couldn’t fault him for either goal conceded against Georgia and Serbia and since moving to Middlesbrough during the summer, he has been in fine form. It would be surprising if O’Neill decide to change the back four of Christie, Duffy, Clark and Ward for these two games. It would be fantastic if Ward can replicate his delightful Premier League form for Burnley of late for Ireland this weekend. The same can be said of Jeff Hendrick, whose return should be a timely boost for an Irish midfield under severe pressure to deliver. David Meyler’s performance against Serbia earned a him a Man of the Match award and it will surely give him a starting role against Moldova Friday night to put him in the frame for Mondays showdown. Whatever technical ability he may lack, his heart and desire in covering the ground and putting tackles in was excellent against the Serbs. It was also potentially a death knell in Glenn Whelan’s Ireland career, whose toothless display against Georgia was one too many for O’Neill it seems. Conor Hourihane made an appearance in the Serbia encounter but had little effect that evening. That being said, it showed O’Neills faith in him and I wouldn’t be surprised if he was given another chance at some stage against Moldova.
Jon Walters is injured which is a blow while McClean and Brady are suspended, which is no harm in my opinion. Brady has not been the same since Euro 2016, much like myself. He has been inserted into a free role of sorts with the No.10 jersey that has left him completely lost in every Ireland game he’s played since. He is a shadow of the goal and set piece threat that was utilised on the left flank in the last campaign. I hope his suspension does one of two things. I hope it convinces O’Neill he shouldn’t be played centrally against Wales and/or give McGeady the start his form in the last year has been crying out for. Heck I’ve been crying out for it in my last 3 Ireland related articles. And in those key games (excluding Serbia, for which he was injured) he got a mere 53 minutes in total to replicate that form, all from the bench. He featured for 29 minutes against Georgia and was more direct than any other Irish player that night. It didn’t reap any reward nor did it spare McGeady any of the backlash that followed. However, against Moldova, he has to be given a starting role. He has continued his good club form since joining Sunderland in the summer. His effect as an impact sub is muted so I think it’s imperative he starts the game so he can influence it from the beginning. Ireland are crying out for creativity in the final third.
It was announced yesterday that Martin O’Neill and assistant manager Roy Keane have signed contract extensions and will lead us into the next campaign. Few saw that coming given the backlash they received last month. The timing is vintage FAI, I would have far preferred seeing how we performed in these final two games before thinking about extensions. However, O’Neill has not done a terrible job. We did qualify for Euro 2016 and we began this campaign as 4th seeds. There is definitely scope for improvement and we have to see new blood coming into the squad. Wales gambled on Ben Woodburn last month and the 17 year old popped up to score the winner against Austria. I would love to see faith like that rewarded this weekend and especially in the future. What makes our poor performances even more frustrating is that we have seen our players perform, not only at club level but in the green shirt too when it matters most. Both tonight and on Monday, it matters more than ever. Like against Italy in June 2016 or in Paris 8 years ago, our backs are against the wall, we need to come out fighting for our lives.
I tweeted (@FCr_91) last night that we should not ignore the Gary McKay comparisons, the dominoes are falling one result at a time. After the last month of negativity, I will travel to the Aviva on one crutch, with renewed hope. On the ferry to Wales Saturday evening, I will believe. #COYBIG
No comments:
Post a Comment