Nations League relegation/promotion playoff, first leg: Bulgaria v Republic of Ireland, Hristo Botev Stadium, Plovdiv, 7.45pm Irish time – Live RTÉ2
Heimir Hallgrímsson has waited patiently since November 17th last year for the Republic of Ireland’s first outing of a 10-match campaign in 2025.
Above all else, the head coach wants to put some distance between the second half at Wembley four months ago when England punished the Liam Scales sending off by scoring five goals.
“It was two different halves,” Hallgrímsson said. “The first half we were in control of what we wanted to do. The way we set up we were in control. The problems we caused England were what we wanted to cause them.”
In particular, Nathan Collins as a holding midfielder proved effective until the team was reduced to 10 men.
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A confidence-boosting result away to a Bulgaria side that is ranked 80th in the world – and, as a football nation, are currently as far as possible from their glory days at the 1994 World Cup when they reached the semi-finals – is just what everyone in Irish football needs right now.
“A hundred per cent,” Hallgrímsson agreed, “it’s a good game for us. We are ready to go again. [Losing 5-0] hurt a lot and it wasn’t a nice feeling. It was tough as we all had to leave after and we hadn’t seen each other since. So it’s a game we want to bounce back from. We want that confidence back.”
Avoiding defeat on Thursday before Sunday’s second-leg at the Aviva Stadium would suffice as Ireland are without some of their most reliable players, with Scales and Jayson Molumby suspended on top of injuries to Chiedozie Ogbene, Festy Ebosele, Sammie Szmodics and Will Smallbone.
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At least Evan Ferguson is moving towards the match sharpness that prompted a loan move away from Brighton in January. Not that West Ham United manager Graham Potter is playing ball: the 20-year-old has been used sparingly off the bench in the five games since his move to London.
“I believe he can start,” Hallgrímsson said. “If he will, we will see. But I believe he can start. If he can do 90 minutes, we need to see that.
“Obviously, like all coaches, not only national team coaches, you like to have your players playing day-in, day-out, so [I’m] a little disappointed he hasn’t played more minutes after changing clubs, but his time will come for sure.”
Ireland have options in attack with Adam Idah and Troy Parrott in goalscoring form for Celtic and AZ Alkmaar respectively, while Finn Azaz’s club form is likely to be rewarded in a creative role behind the lone striker.
“The strength of [Azaz] is finding spaces, finding these gaps, creating chances, scoring goals, and he has been on fire of late for Middlesbrough, so he’s in a good place at this moment. His job is creating up front, finding the killer pass for the goal. That’s his role in my mind. He’s an impact player.”
Elsewhere, Caoimhín Kelleher’s three games this year for Liverpool against PSV in the Champions League, along with Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United in the Carabao Cup, should be enough preparation to keep Mark Travers and Gavin Bazunu on the bench.
Collins will lead Ireland out at the Botev stadium with Jake O’Brien or Matt Doherty pushing to fill the right back position if Dara O’Shea partners the skipper at centre back and Robbie Brady returns at left back.
Either Bristol City man Jason Knight or Mark Sykes can play in midfield beside Josh Cullen, while Rocco Vata could make his debut and end interest from Albania, with whom his father Rudi won 59 caps in the 1990s.
Bulgaria are also trying to move beyond a 5-0 defeat to Northern Ireland at Windsor Park last October, which was their only poor result in 2024.
“The strength of the Bulgarian team is collective, it’s an honest team,” Hallgrímsson said. “They are tactically solid and difficult to break down. If you look at the recent results, since Ilian Iliev took over, 12 games and one loss and that was a big defeat in Northern Ireland but that was an outlier.
“They conceded five goals, but they were missing five players, missed a penalty and hit the crossbar. It was a day off for them. Even though they have technical players in [Andrian] Kraev and [Kiril] Despodov who can break up the game, it’s a collective.”
A tactically solid collective is precisely what the Icelander wants Ireland to become to avoid relegation from Nations League B prior to a World Cup qualification campaign that begins when Hungary come to Dublin on September 6th.
“Does [relegation] matter?” Hallgrímsson asked and then answered: “My thoughts are we need to play good opponents to develop as a team. That’s why group B is important for us. There are differing views on it, and I respect that, but I think it’s really important to stay in group B and play higher ranked opponents.”
IRELAND (possible): Kelleher; Doherty, O’Shea, Collins, Brady; Cullen, Knight; Vata, Azaz, Johnston; Ferguson
