Ireland beat Sweden 1-0 in their second match of this week's international tournament in Belgium yesterday with Arsenal's Keith Fahey scoring the only goal of the game five minutes into the second half.
Ireland must now win tomorrow's game against Yugoslavia to be sure of winning the tournament. Yugoslavia and hosts Belgium played out a scoreless draw yesterday afternoon, leaving the Irish and the Yugoslavs in joint-top place on four points each. In the event of Ireland drawing on Friday, Belgium, currently on two points, could win the tournament if they beat Sweden by more than one goal.
Outright victory would provide a significant boost to Brian Kerr's team's confidence ahead of their trip to Israel for the forthcoming UEFA European Championships.
"I'm really pleased with our performance," said Kerr afterwards, "the lads did exceptionally well and I'm happy that the tournament is giving us a good chance to see them play at competition level."
Republic of Ireland: McMahon (West Ham); Martin (Blackburn), Farren (Leeds), Rossiter (Sunderland), Kelly (Tottenham); Fahey (Arsenal), Ward (Wolves), Thorntan (Tranmere); Daly (Stockport), Kearney (Notts Forest), Walker (Sunderland). Subs: Henderson (Aston Villa) for McMahon (8 mins), Murphy (Celtic) for Walker (17 mins).
