Ireland face Hungary this Saturday with everything to play for.
Wednesday evening saw the ‘Ireland Football’ social accounts take the unusual step of sharing a motivational video of manager Heimir Hallgrimsson foaming at the mouth for this opening World Cup qualifier against Hungary:
“”Everything we work for, every training session, every sacrifice… has led to this moment.”
“With our fantastic supporters behind us, we are ready for the challenge ahead“
An unusual step you would think.
But with a sold-out Aviva Stadium hosting the key game of the entire campaign, firing up fans nice and early might just be important.
Football is one of the few spaces left where the belief that everyone working together can make a genuine difference endures.
And exercising that belief could take us to a different space – a less co-operative space – but nonetheless a big space and a big place – the United States.
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“The time for development is over, the time to deliver is now.”
God knows it’s been a long road. The sliver of hope that Ireland might qualify for a tournament this time around gives Saturday a definite sense of occasion that we probably haven’t felt since as far back as 2017.
Ireland’s chance at qualifying for that following summer’s World Cup in Russia famously came to a brutal flaming end when Denmark rolled into Dublin, Christian Eriksen waltzed around the park and Darren Randolph picked the ball out his net once, and then again, and again, and again, andddd again.
It’s worth saying – let’s hope history doesn’t repeat itself this time. Especially with a play-off route looking likely. Please no. But that’s not the point.
The point is that the road started way back there – and that means Saturday could not be bigger. In many ways, this is the campaign that has to make all the bumps, bruises and setbacks worth it.
Anyone who thought that 5-1 would be the low-point was quickly slapped in the face by the subsequent Nations League campaign we don’t speak of, the one which cost Martin O’Neill his job. Justifiably.
Then Mick McCarthy did a little better with experienced but poor resources before Stephen Kenny’s revamped squad endured a teething problem or three too many. None of those managers had it easy.
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“I have full belief in these players to write their own history.”
Heimir, on the other hand, entered the fray with a better brief than post-Euros O’Neill, McCarthy or Kenny.
The dentist, ironically, hasn’t needed to operate especially intensively. No -whatever the dental equivalent of Ralf Ragnick’s “Open heart surgery” may be – just a spot of whitening.
That’s as for the first time in the bones of a decade, the Irish side boasts multiple players in the so-called prime years of their careers.
And with 20 plus caps behind even the youngest of them, it’s no wonder the Icelander feels more confident delivering a battle cry than some of his predecessors.
“A lot of the players are in a good moment exactly now,” as Heimir said in his midweek press conference. “They’re in their clubs going well, leading their teams. We’ve been in a worse situation than we are now.”
To his credit, Heimir’s belief should be largely aided by his own tactical diligence and willingness to innovate. Outside the box experiments with centre-backs becoming fullbacks, centre-backs becoming midfielders and left-backs becoming left-wingers fluidly during games has solidified Ireland to a degree.
Dara O’Shea taking long throws without the ability to throw long was less impressive. But can be forgiven.
His fresh ideas have still seen this improved Ireland team perform to par – but he knows more will be needed to turn his left-field appointment into anything worth remembering.
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“It all starts now, this is it”
I think it’s reasonable to speculate that such a video wouldn’t have been made if Armenia were first up in the group, or perhaps if Ireland were away to runaway group favourites Portugal.
The fact that Hungary are Ireland’s first opponents is entirely relevant. In the eyes of a lot of fans this is the crunch game that could decide the entire group.
It doesn’t take much for the mind to stray, imagining how a sobering defeat could cruelly burst a half-full balloon of cautious optimism.
But with a swashbuckling Evan Ferguson strutting his stuff in Rome, Burnley captain Josh Cullen playing some of his best stuff in the Premier League right now, Brentford skipper Nathan Collins drawing attention from the World’s biggest clubs, and Caoimhin Kelleher finally a first-team regular at football’s top table – you do dare to believe. For once.
The free-roaming Dominik Szoboszlai must be monitored sensibly but Ireland can be confident about winning other duels around the park. Though this will be tougher, last year’s 2-1 friendly win over the same opponents showed little to be afraid of.
For the first time since we were on our feet in Lille, the squad might look like that of a qualifying nation. You can compare it to the Ireland of 2012 and the Ireland of 2016, but also to the Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland tournament teams of the past decade.
A perfect start against Hungary would give this group a good grounding to achieve something similar.
Predicted XI: Kelleher; Doherty, Collins, O’Shea, Scales, Manning; Cullen, Knight; Ogbene, Azaz; Ferguson
Prediction: Ireland 1-0 Hungary
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