TONIGHT IRELAND BECOME Cristiano Ronaldo’s latest plot device.
The plot is his pursuit of another head-spinning record: Ronaldo is one goal from becoming the most prolific goalscorer in the history of men’s international football. He is currently tied with Ali Daei on 109.
(If you want some added, ghastly context: the 25-man Irish squad picked for the match have a total of 42 international goals between them.)
Captain Seamus Coleman didn’t bite when asked if the Irish players were motivated to spoil the coronation.
“It’s not a case of ruining any parties or anything like that, we have to focus on ourselves”, said Coleman at the pre-match press conference. “We have to focus on what our plan is tomorrow how we can stop them playing.”
So, what of that plan?
Stephen Kenny says Ireland won’t be decamping on the edge of their own penalty area to cling desperately onto the point they’ll start the game with. “We have to carry an attacking threat and we can’t afford to defend for 90 minutes. It’s not the way we’re set up to do that, it’s not our intention. Portugal have too much quality to sit back for 90 minutes, it’s not workable.”
That chimes with how Kenny has always spoken of how he wants his team to play, though these fabulous ambitions have often perished on reality’s pitiless rocks: tomorrow will be Kenny’s 14th game in charge, and so far he’s won just one of them, a 4-1 friendly victory over Andorra in June.
Ronaldo in Portugal training. Xinhua News Agency / PA Images
Xinhua News Agency / PA Images / PA Images
Portugal manager Fernando Santos unwittingly encapsulated the slow start of the Kenny era thus far: a year to the day after Kenny gave an interview stating he wanted to untether Irish football’s association with “a British style”, Santos was asked what he expects of his opponents tomorrow night.
“We know the characteristics of these British teams. For them, the game never ends under any circumstances. They always give everything.”
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Ouch.
Any fair-minded analysis of Kenny’s reign thus far accepts many of the results are mitigated against by the manager’s cosmic levels of misfortune, and said bad luck has stalked him once again ahead of this trip.
Enda Stevens is injured, Callum Robinson has tested positive for Covid-19, Alan Browne is isolating as a close contact of a separate case, and Jason Knight is out having been injured in training by a tackle from his own manager.
All four were probable starters tonight.
There have been no further withdrawals, however, and Conor Hourihane has linked up with the squad having dallied in England to complete a move to Sheffield United.
Another recurring issue for Kenny is the lack of game time among his midfielders: of the six named, only Josh Cullen and the more forward-thinking Jamie McGrath have started more than a single club game this season. Hourihane and Jeff Hendrick have started a Carabao Cup game each, while neither Jayson Molumby nor Harry Arter have played a first-team game since last season. (Both have since left their clubs on loan, for West Brom and Charlton respectively.)
Kenny said their lack of game time is “disappointing”, but that he didn’t rule anyone out of involvement tomorrow while saying the midfield needs energy could be good news for Molumby.
Josh Cullen’s form and fitness means he will start in midfield, with Molumby most likely vying with Hourihane for the second spot. Jeff Hendrick has returned to the squad but has been slipping down the pecking order, while the fact Arter last started a first-team game last January will surely work against him.
Troy Parrott scored his first international goals against Andorra in June and has made a terrific start to the season at MK Dons, scoring twice in five games for a side playing a similar system to the one Ireland will likely deploy in Faro.
“Troy has done well”, said Kenny. “We forget he’s still so young, still only 19, the goals he got in the summer will boost his confidence.”
Kenny obsesses over having pace in his forward line, which could mean inclusion for Adam Idah and Aaron Connolly, though Daryl Horgan has been a consistent performer over the last year and may have done enough to force his way into the starting team.
Troy Parrott. Ryan Byrne / INPHO
Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO
Gavin Bazunu looks likely to continue in goal, and Kenny looks unlikely to deviate from the back three/five he has used in all bar one game in 2021 thus far. Many of his defenders are battle-hardened and in-form: Kenny spoke of Shane Duffy’s “resurgence”, while also name-checking John Egan and Dara O’Shea, who look likely to form the back three.
Seamus Coleman is undroppable so might shift across to right wing-back, with James McClean the likely candidate at left-wing back, though Matt Doherty may be accommodated in that position simply as a way of getting him into the team.
Kenny was in Munich to see Portugal shredded 4-2 by Germany at the Euros, a game in which they showed a glaring weakness at full-back: all four goals were either created or scored by the German wing-backs, with left wing-back Robin Gosens departing to a standing ovation having left Nelson Semedo in need of urgent self-care.
The bad news for Ireland is that it will be difficult to repeat that Germany performance: they don’t have Toni Kroos to dictate the tempo in midfield, for instance, while Joao Cancelo will be involved as a considerable upgrade on Semedo. A better Euro 2020 template for Ireland may be Hungary, who played a back five and kept Portugal scoreless for 84 minutes. (They were eventually beaten 3-0, a scoreline against which Hungary had a legitimate defamation case.)
Ireland can draw some drop of succour from the fact that the substitute who changed that game, Renato Sanches, is absent through injury tonight, as is Atletico Madrid’s €126 million attacker Joao Felix.
That said, Portugal aren’t exactly stuck for replacements: imagine having Bruno Fernandes, Diogo Jota, and Bernardo Silva and then ranking them subservient to your main attacker.
But that is the status enjoyed by Ronaldo.
Santos batted away questions about the record attempt, though Goncalo Guedes admitted that Portugal would be doing everything they could to make sure Ronaldo gets his latest bit of history.
This is the first of a three-game sprint for Ireland, followed by qualifiers at home to Azerbaijan and Serbia, and the Azerbaijan game is the least glamorous of the three yet is probably the most important: Kenny’s selling point was supposed to be his ability to make Ireland more comfortable in the role of protagonist.
In the highly improbable event they upstage Ronaldo and assume that role tonight, then the manager’s reign truly will be up and running.
Portugal (Possible XI): Rui Patricio; Joao Cancelo, Ruben Dias, Pepe, Raphael Guerreiro; Joao Palhinha, Danilo Pereira; Bernardo Silva, Bruno Fernandes, Diogo Jota; Cristiano Ronaldo
Republic of Ireland (Possible XI): Gavin Bazunu; Seamus Coleman; Shane Duffy, John Egan, Dara O’Shea; Matt Doherty; Josh Cullen, Jayson Molumby; Troy Parrott, Daryl Horgan; Adam Idah
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Kenny's Ireland hoping to be more than bit-part players on the night Ronaldo takes centre stage
TONIGHT IRELAND BECOME Cristiano Ronaldo’s latest plot device.
The plot is his pursuit of another head-spinning record: Ronaldo is one goal from becoming the most prolific goalscorer in the history of men’s international football. He is currently tied with Ali Daei on 109.
(If you want some added, ghastly context: the 25-man Irish squad picked for the match have a total of 42 international goals between them.)
Captain Seamus Coleman didn’t bite when asked if the Irish players were motivated to spoil the coronation.
“It’s not a case of ruining any parties or anything like that, we have to focus on ourselves”, said Coleman at the pre-match press conference. “We have to focus on what our plan is tomorrow how we can stop them playing.”
So, what of that plan?
Stephen Kenny says Ireland won’t be decamping on the edge of their own penalty area to cling desperately onto the point they’ll start the game with. “We have to carry an attacking threat and we can’t afford to defend for 90 minutes. It’s not the way we’re set up to do that, it’s not our intention. Portugal have too much quality to sit back for 90 minutes, it’s not workable.”
That chimes with how Kenny has always spoken of how he wants his team to play, though these fabulous ambitions have often perished on reality’s pitiless rocks: tomorrow will be Kenny’s 14th game in charge, and so far he’s won just one of them, a 4-1 friendly victory over Andorra in June.
Portugal manager Fernando Santos unwittingly encapsulated the slow start of the Kenny era thus far: a year to the day after Kenny gave an interview stating he wanted to untether Irish football’s association with “a British style”, Santos was asked what he expects of his opponents tomorrow night.
“We know the characteristics of these British teams. For them, the game never ends under any circumstances. They always give everything.”
Ouch.
Any fair-minded analysis of Kenny’s reign thus far accepts many of the results are mitigated against by the manager’s cosmic levels of misfortune, and said bad luck has stalked him once again ahead of this trip.
Enda Stevens is injured, Callum Robinson has tested positive for Covid-19, Alan Browne is isolating as a close contact of a separate case, and Jason Knight is out having been injured in training by a tackle from his own manager.
All four were probable starters tonight.
There have been no further withdrawals, however, and Conor Hourihane has linked up with the squad having dallied in England to complete a move to Sheffield United.
Another recurring issue for Kenny is the lack of game time among his midfielders: of the six named, only Josh Cullen and the more forward-thinking Jamie McGrath have started more than a single club game this season. Hourihane and Jeff Hendrick have started a Carabao Cup game each, while neither Jayson Molumby nor Harry Arter have played a first-team game since last season. (Both have since left their clubs on loan, for West Brom and Charlton respectively.)
Kenny said their lack of game time is “disappointing”, but that he didn’t rule anyone out of involvement tomorrow while saying the midfield needs energy could be good news for Molumby.
Josh Cullen’s form and fitness means he will start in midfield, with Molumby most likely vying with Hourihane for the second spot. Jeff Hendrick has returned to the squad but has been slipping down the pecking order, while the fact Arter last started a first-team game last January will surely work against him.
Troy Parrott scored his first international goals against Andorra in June and has made a terrific start to the season at MK Dons, scoring twice in five games for a side playing a similar system to the one Ireland will likely deploy in Faro.
“Troy has done well”, said Kenny. “We forget he’s still so young, still only 19, the goals he got in the summer will boost his confidence.”
Kenny obsesses over having pace in his forward line, which could mean inclusion for Adam Idah and Aaron Connolly, though Daryl Horgan has been a consistent performer over the last year and may have done enough to force his way into the starting team.
Gavin Bazunu looks likely to continue in goal, and Kenny looks unlikely to deviate from the back three/five he has used in all bar one game in 2021 thus far. Many of his defenders are battle-hardened and in-form: Kenny spoke of Shane Duffy’s “resurgence”, while also name-checking John Egan and Dara O’Shea, who look likely to form the back three.
Seamus Coleman is undroppable so might shift across to right wing-back, with James McClean the likely candidate at left-wing back, though Matt Doherty may be accommodated in that position simply as a way of getting him into the team.
Kenny was in Munich to see Portugal shredded 4-2 by Germany at the Euros, a game in which they showed a glaring weakness at full-back: all four goals were either created or scored by the German wing-backs, with left wing-back Robin Gosens departing to a standing ovation having left Nelson Semedo in need of urgent self-care.
The bad news for Ireland is that it will be difficult to repeat that Germany performance: they don’t have Toni Kroos to dictate the tempo in midfield, for instance, while Joao Cancelo will be involved as a considerable upgrade on Semedo. A better Euro 2020 template for Ireland may be Hungary, who played a back five and kept Portugal scoreless for 84 minutes. (They were eventually beaten 3-0, a scoreline against which Hungary had a legitimate defamation case.)
Ireland can draw some drop of succour from the fact that the substitute who changed that game, Renato Sanches, is absent through injury tonight, as is Atletico Madrid’s €126 million attacker Joao Felix.
That said, Portugal aren’t exactly stuck for replacements: imagine having Bruno Fernandes, Diogo Jota, and Bernardo Silva and then ranking them subservient to your main attacker.
But that is the status enjoyed by Ronaldo.
Santos batted away questions about the record attempt, though Goncalo Guedes admitted that Portugal would be doing everything they could to make sure Ronaldo gets his latest bit of history.
This is the first of a three-game sprint for Ireland, followed by qualifiers at home to Azerbaijan and Serbia, and the Azerbaijan game is the least glamorous of the three yet is probably the most important: Kenny’s selling point was supposed to be his ability to make Ireland more comfortable in the role of protagonist.
In the highly improbable event they upstage Ronaldo and assume that role tonight, then the manager’s reign truly will be up and running.
Portugal (Possible XI): Rui Patricio; Joao Cancelo, Ruben Dias, Pepe, Raphael Guerreiro; Joao Palhinha, Danilo Pereira; Bernardo Silva, Bruno Fernandes, Diogo Jota; Cristiano Ronaldo
Republic of Ireland (Possible XI): Gavin Bazunu; Seamus Coleman; Shane Duffy, John Egan, Dara O’Shea; Matt Doherty; Josh Cullen, Jayson Molumby; Troy Parrott, Daryl Horgan; Adam Idah
On TV: RTÉ Two; KO: 7.45pm
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Cristiano Ronaldo Portugal Preview Republic Of Ireland Stephen Kenny world cup qualifiers