The Republic of Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrímsson believes that the psychological damage caused by nine years of failed qualification campaigns to reach major tournaments goes deeper than anyone outside the camp can imagine.
“[The Armenia] result is probably down to old scars,” said Hallgrímsson following the disastrous 2-1 defeat in Yerevan on Tuesday night. “The players are not as confident as they should be in my opinion. They probably carried something from the past.
“We said before that it’s a heavy shirt for them to carry. But in my opinion, they should qualify.”
There is plenty of blame to go around following the defeat to Armenia as the result significantly decreases Ireland’s chance of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup in North America.
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“It’s difficult to see the light at this moment,” he admitted. “We have to win all our games now.”
Before the abject first-half performance against Hungary on Saturday at the Aviva Stadium, when Ireland trailed 2-0 until second-half goals from Evan Ferguson and Adam Idah salvaged a point, the Icelander had created a rod for his own back by making repeated assurances that his maturing squad would qualify for next summer’s tournament.
The 58-year-old’s pronouncement last month that Ireland can become the best set-piece attack and most organised defence in Europe sounded naive after they were overrun by a country ranked 105th in the world.
Portugal’s 3-2 victory in Budapest on Tuesday put Roberto Martínez’s side top of Group F, with Ireland on the backfoot to qualify for second and a playoff semi-final next March.
To stay relevant, Ireland require a “miracle” result against Portugal in Lisbon on October 11th, according to Hallgrímsson. They then play Armenia at home on Tuesday, October 14th.
The qualifiers conclude with matches against Portugal at the Aviva on November 13th and Hungary three days later in Budapest.
By then, Hallgrímsson might struggle to convince the FAI board that he is the man to lead the nation’s football team into Euro 2028 on home soil.
After the Armenians exposed his tactical approach, the manager could conceivably resign before his 18-month contract is reviewed by early December.
Having parachuted Jack Taylor into the team, only to substitute the Ipswich Town midfielder at half-time along with Chiedozie Ogbene, his other fresh selection for the injured Sammie Szmodics, Hallgrímsson conceded that he got both calls wrong in Yerevan.
Taylor effectively replaced Matt Doherty, whose international career may be over as old concerns were revived around the 33-year-old’s performance against Hungary. Ryan Manning moved to full-back with Finn Azaz, oddly, starting off the left as Taylor played where Azaz had been so effective in the Nations League playoff defeat of Bulgaria last March.
At best, the changes fed into Ireland’s muddled approach. At worst, they bring into question Hallgrímsson’s alignment with his assistant coaches John O’Shea and Paddy McCarthy.
“We wanted to have an extra player in midfield, so it was even more disappointing how [Armenia] opened us though the heart of the team,” he said. “Even when we went one v one, we were losing the one v ones all over [the pitch]. Too many players had an off day.”
The bookmakers are already taking bets on whether Roy Keane, Damien Duff, Stephen Bradley, Robbie Keane or José Mourinho will replace Hallgrímsson, who is being paid €650,000 annually. The elder Keane recently said that if he ever returned to management, Duff would be an ideal assistant coach.
The FAI have more pressing issues to handle than Hallgrímsson’s future, not least the replacement of their chief football officer Marc Canham.
It also emerged earlier this month that the former women’s head coach Eileen Gleeson has begun legal proceedings against the association, citing gender discrimination.
And the FAI recently announced redundancies that are believed to number up to 70 of their 230 staff.
Hallgrímsson noted in August that due to “budgetary” constraints he had to choose between a fitness expert and sports psychologist. He went with the former, bringing in the Spanish athletics coach Pepe Lazaro despite a worrying trend of Irish players failing to transfer club form to the green shirt.
Nathan Collins is the obvious example with the Brentford captain potentially losing his place in the team to play Portugal next month following error-strewn displays against Hungary and Armenia.
The FAI CEO David Courell will brief the media on Friday with questions on the lack of a sports psychologist set to be raised.
“I don’t think that would make it worse,” Hallgrímsson replied to the suggestion of bringing an expert into camp. “But there is no quick fix in this area.”
The bright sparks from a miserable September window were Evan Ferguson scoring against both Hungary and Armenia, while Caoimhín Kelleher made a string of saves to ensure that the meltdown in Yerevan did not turn into a five- or six-goal rout.
“We’ll go back, analyse and see where we can improve,” said Hallgrímsson. “But honestly, like I said, it’s tough to see the light at the end of the tunnel. This was definitely a setback.”
