Nations League: Armenia v Republic of Ireland, Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium, Yerevan, Saturday 5pm (2pm Irish time) – Live RTÉ 2
In the quaint surroundings of the 1930s built Republican stadium, not far from downtown Yerevan, it was accurately pointed out to Stephen Kenny that Ireland have never won a Nations League match from 10 attempts – the clear insinuation being if not now, when?
“It’s not fair to assess that campaign at all,” Kenny responded, openly annoyed by other nations not adhering to the two-metre rule on flights that decimated his squad at the height of Covid.
“Completely unfair,” he repeated. “Two windows with so many players [unavailable], so it is not a fair assessment. I know people want to criticise that period and people really went after us in that period, but I think we have shown over the last year that the players have played brilliant.
“The Irish public really identify with this team now. It’s a new style of play, it’s a vibrant style of play, the players have been terrific. The majority of our performances even against the top teams such as Portugal and Serbia were very good.
“We have scored 23 goals since March [2021] and we have shown that we are improving as a team. We have blooded an awful lot of players.”
Kenny has realised the best person to defend his regime is himself. And anyway, all that talk of a League of Ireland manager being unfit to lead Irish players almost exclusively existing in the lower divisions of English football has been shelved. It will only be revisited by failure to break the winless streak in this competition.
Armenia are ranked 92nd by Fifa and the stifling heat cooled to a manageable 31 degrees as John Eustace and Keith Andrews put the 27-strong squad through their paces on Thursday evening.
Séamus Coleman agreed that the conditions cannot be used as a reason why Ireland remain bracketed with Northern Ireland, Iceland, Andorra and San Marino, as the only nations yet to bank three points in the competition.
“No, it wouldn’t be a ready-made excuse,” said the Everton skipper. “I think we have all played long enough in different climates to understand that it’s not always going to be the same. It’s going to be tough but we’re young fit lads as well so we’ve got to be prepared for any circumstance, it won’t be an excuse.”
Interestingly, if temperatures dip below 32 degrees the option of water breaks is at the discretion of Romanian referee Radu Petrescu. The Armenians will presumably seek to play on as they come into this match seeking any form of respectability after the 9-0 thumping in Norway last March.
“I don’t want anyone to remind me about that game” said Joaquín Caparrós, their Spanish coach. “Of course it was a tough result to accept but the team has already forgotten it.”
Caporròs added in Spanish that four matches in 10 days is “barbarity and insanity”.
Remarkably, after a long club season, every player trained with Gavin Bazunu shaking off back pain to look his bendable self, bouncing off the turf as a potential Ireland line-up acclimatised to the conditions.
Troy Parrott goals have kept the Kenny revolution on track these past 12 months and the 20-year-old looks set to be rewarded for his late screamer to beat Lithuania by starting up front alongside Callum Robinson and Chiedozie Ogbene.
Enda Stevens could start ahead of James McClean at left wing back and Nathan Collins’s impressive season for relegated Burnley should be recognised by a spot in the back three beside Shane Duffy and John Egan.
That means Coleman wins a 62nd cap at 33-years-old in the most demanding position imaginable. Having played 30 Premier League matches during an extremely stressful run-in for the blue half of Merseyside and with a lengthy history of hamstring problems, this might be the captain’s only outing at wing back in June.
Recently deemed an “incredible human being” by a very relieved Everton manager, Coleman accepted the praise with typical humility.
“For a manager like Frank Lampard to say that is obviously a lovely moment, it means a lot. I don’t think a lot of people see or understand what goes on behind the scenes, and what you really put into it. From that point of view it’s nice of him to put it out there, nice for my parents and stuff like that. For me it’s part of my job and I’m happy the season ended like it did.
“It was a tough season for us all, parents, wife, kids, it was a tough grind. We got what we wanted in the end. Not exactly what we are describing as a successful season but when you get stuck in that rut with six weeks to go we got what we wanted.
“As a club we need to learn massively from it, but I’m glad I am sitting here and still a Premier League player, for sure.”
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND (possible): Bazunu; Collins, Duffy, Egan; Coleman (capt), Cullen, Hendrick, Stevens; Ogbene, Robinson, Parrott.
ARMENIA (possible): Yurchenko; Voskanyan, Haroyan (capt), Hambardzumyan, Kama; Udo, Spertsyan, Bayramyan, Bichakhchyan; Adamyan, Barseghyan.
Referee: Radu Petrescu (Romania).
