Czech-mate
IN ALL FAIRNESS
We were set up for a mighty fall and by God did it feel every bit of it when the Czechia scored their final penalty to final quench the Republic of Ireland’s senior men’s World Cup dream for another four years at least.
There’s no doubt that a good chunk of the country lost the run of themselves in the build-up to the game.
It was as if we were playing our first game in a major tournament itself, not just a playoff match to get to another playoff match, having to win both to begin even planning to head to the United States, Mexico and Canada this summer.
This was understandable, the Irish soccer supporter has been starved of not just success, but hope, for over a decade now. Thankfully, barring a disaster, we should be at Euro 2028 as joint hosts, which then would be twelve years since the last time we competed in a major tournament, our longest drought since qualifying for our first major tournament, the 1988 Euro’s in then West Germany.
The impact from that tournament still lingers, not just through Christy Moore’s legendary ‘Joxer goes to Stuttgart’, but also of great trips by planes, trains, cars, campervan, tractors, you name it…. a legacy that remains to this day when you see around five thousand people head to Prague last week, despite the likelihood of not getting into the game; they just wanted to be there such has been the momentum built by the wins over Portugal and Hungary last November that gave Ireland the chance to get within two games of the World Cup.
What makes this one hurt is that it wasn’t one of those brave and glorious defeats as an underdog, this was a game Ireland left behind them after going two goals up against a Czech side that weren’t up to much. After the second goal, there was a brief sense that maybe Ireland could win by three or four, but the concession of the needless penalty shortly after gave the home side oxygen they desperately needed and brought the home support to life.
Even the equaliser in the 86th minute came against the run of play as Caoimhin Kelleher had very little to do up to that between the posts as the back-three of Jack O’Brien, Dara O’Shea, and skipper Nathan Collins erected their over version of the iron curtain. However, it only takes one well-measured ball and a good run for it to be breached and that’s how the Czech’s got their equaliser.
The dream was alive again after three penalties each in the shootout as Ireland led 3-2 and according to statistics, a team in that situation wins 78% of the time. However, we went against the grain by missing the last two penalties, poor strikes rather than great saves the home keeper had to make.
From where Ireland were last September when they lost to Armenia, they have come a long way and can head into the next Nations League and Euro qualifier campaigns with more belief and confidence. We now have a system of play, 5-3-2, it might be seen as negative but without a strong midfield at the moment, it suits the players we have at our disposal.
We also have a top-class striker in Troy Parrott, although largely starved of quality ball in the game, he nervelessly slotted away both penalties. The anticipation over the next two years is that if Evan Ferguson can get some luck in terms of injury and get back to his best, what if the two of them click together? And that doesn’t include who might come through the ranks in that time such as Mason Melia and Michael Noonan if they make an immediate impact at a higher level which they are expected to do.
For the first time since the latter days of the Martin O’Neill era, there appears to be a welcome calm within the senior men’s team. Heimir Hallgrimsson might have been a relatively unknown and controversial appointment as manager but he seems to have found his feet, and the players, supporters and media have come to like him, particularly his honesty when he talks, and despite not being Irish, you can see how much a defeat hurts him. This isn’t just another management gig on with a decent salary, he is all in with the Republic of Ireland and the stability of a new contract for the next two years is welcome.
There is no point saying the future is bright, but there is certainly more optimism and that can’t be downplayed. For too long there was only doom and gloom around Irish soccer, much of it self-inflicted both on and off the field, however it feels like a corner has been turned.