Ireland should have enough to beat Bulgaria again and maintain the good vibes

Gavin Cooney

THE QUESTION AHEAD of tonight’s snap reunion with Bulgaria: has the national team finally bottomed out? 

The years since the World Cup play-off defeat to Denmark have been gloomy, briefly lit only by false dawns. But now there are a few streaks across the sky. 

As Heimir Hallgrimsson said yesterday, “I smell there is a little change coming.” 

Hallgrimsson hasn’t suddenly slung the Irish team from its lowly status, but he is inching things slightly higher. In drawing some of the boldness from the team he has also drained some volatility, and he is building team at least capable of scoring par. 

Previous Irish teams have had success in dragging superior opponents down to their level, but this squad’s problem has been they couldn’t be trusted to even perform at their own level on any given matchday. 

Things appear to be changing under Hallgrimsson, and tonight offers Ireland a chance to beat an inferior team home and away. This isn’t something to be getting heady about, but it’s significant, given Ireland did a double over Finland last year having hardly done it under Mick McCarthy nor Stephen Kenny. 

In fact, across all Nations League and qualifier campaigns since the Denmark play-off disaster of 2017, the only team Ireland have beaten home and away has been Gibraltar.

Failure to beat the likes of Georgia, Luxembourg, Azerbaijan, and Armenia were the death knells of past campaigns, and if Ireland are to retain an interest in World Cup qualifying through to the final round of games in November this year, they have to be winning away to Armenia in September. 

And though Ireland have a first leg-lead and need only a draw to retain League B status tonight, Hallgrimsson isn’t minded to park the bus. 

Heimir Hallgrimsson at Irish training on the eve of the second leg against Bulgaria. Ryan Byrne / INPHO Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO

“We want to win the game and continue to develop,” Hallgrimsson told his pre-match press conference at FAI HQ. “We are not going there to keep the zero zero. We want to score.  Again, confidence is key to what we are trying to do. This is the kind of opponent where we can go high on the pitch.” 

One test for Ireland tonight will be as to how they avoid Bulgarian counter-attacks if they do play more aggressively than they did in the first leg. While they beat Finland in Dublin last November, their manager was the first to acknowledge they were lucky to do so. 

His first principle is to retain a solid structure with and without possession, and Hallgrimsson sees progress from this consistency of message and execution. 

“I feel that they believe in what they are doing,” said Hallgrimsson. “They believe in the structure, the principles that we are doing.

“We’ll show them a lot of clips from last game, where actually what we are talking about with animations and stuff, they are doing the exact same on the pitch, and when that comes, a group becomes a team.” 

The next layer will be a better attacking output, which he says will come as the players get more used to playing with each other. When speaking post-game on Thursday, Hallgrimsson was critical of his players’ passivity in the second half, but having reviewed the game, the manager said he was rash in his criticism. 

“As a coach I have always been too emotional, that’s why I don’t like to talk to players after games, I like to analyse the game before I speak,” said Hallgrimsson yesterday, preferring instead to accentuate how little Bulgaria created. (Bulgaria, in fairness, were at least partly at fault for their lack of attacking spark.) 

Hallgrimsson offered insight to his attitude yesterday, saying “we try the play the game in our head and select the team that is best for Ireland in that game,” while admitting the players must be able to respond to curveballs on the pitch. 

Given the effectiveness of the first leg game-plan – Ireland’s goals were “magnificent” examples of their training ground-work, in the manager’s words – and the fact everyone is fit to play, Hallgrimsson is unlikely to change too much. 

While the system will be similar, he acknowledged that Bulgaria will have to attack to level the tie on aggregate. He said he expects Bulgaria to press Ireland high and man-to-man, which will open spaces in behind. In that respect, he may be tempted to turn to Adam Idah, who offers more pace in attacking those channels. Equally, Troy Parrott did an admirable job in exploiting those spaces in the first leg, particularly in the first half. 

Nobody in Plovdiv made a case to be taken out of the team. 

Matt Doherty will win his 50th cap tonight, even if Jake O’Brien is pushing for a starting spot. Nathan Collins is captain and will start, though Hallgrimsson did speak to him at half-time in Plovdiv to warn him to rein in his more, er, adventurous passing, given the stodgy pitch. 

Josh Cullen and Jason Knight excelled within the clear and narrowed parameters of Ireland’s midfield shape in Plovdiv, and neither are likely to carry much fatigue into tonight’s game. Mikey Johnston showed the benefit of a dribbler in Plovdiv: he was the outball to relieve pressure during Ireland’s addled reaction to the concession of the opening goal. Rocco Vata is the only like-for-like replacement for Johnston, but played a more advanced role when he came off the bench for his senior debut. 

Ireland’s wide dynamics won them the game in Plovdiv, so Hallgrimsson will likely retain Ryan Manning and Robbie Brady down the left flank, where they dovetailed neatly. Manning had his best game in an Irish shirt while Brady went to show why he is one of the key players in this team.

Finn Azaz, meanwhile, was man of the match, so it’s tough to leave him out. The only reasons for Hallgrimsson to change his forward players are either for fresher legs in pressing or for more pace to trouble Bulgaria in behind. Parrot’s intelligence means he need not play solely at centre-forward, and in picking this team Hallgrimsson can thank his predecessor for building depth in most – if not all – positions. 

Bulgaria arrive in Dublin without four of their starting back from the first leg, though the injury absence of goalkeeper Dimitar Mitov is arguably a bigger blow for Ireland.  Hallgrimsson is wary of their physical challenge, given that a yellow card on the night won’t carry over to the World Cup qualifiers. 

“When yellows don’t count, Bulgaria will go in this area to the maximum,” said Hallgrimsson. “We just need to be ready both physically in our duels, we know what is coming and secondly how we react to how when this happens, we need to control our emotions in games like this.” 

Do that, and Ireland will have enough to win the game, and maintain this slow upward journey. 

Ireland (Possible XI): Kelleher; Doherty, Collins, O’Shea, Brady; Johnston, Cullen, Knight, Manning; Parrott, Idah 

On TV: RTE Two; KO 7.45pm