World Cup qualifiers: Republic of Ireland v Portugal, Thursday November 11th, Aviva Stadium, 7.45pm (Live on RTÉ and Sky Sports)
They come to see Cristiano Ronaldo but so much more besides.
The FAI has unquestionably turned a corner in 2021. The senior men (and women) are winning again. Nothing flash, but they are beating fellow minnows on foreign fields.
Anyone for a surging full house on a cold November night with nothing to play for but pride in the jersey?
“It is a bit soulless when it is empty.”
One crying shame caused by these disruptive times will disappear as Stephen Kenny finally oversees a Republic of Ireland fixture in front of 51,700 supporters.
“We need to have that element of calm in our play,” Kenny continued. “I think that is very important. Portugal will press us high, they are actually very good at that, but regardless we must have the courage to play out.
“We must make sure that the player in possession has the required number of options that he needs. That means our movement off the ball has to be to a high level. We have to play with intelligence and try and get some form of control on the game and show a cutting edge after that.”
It’s a brave new world and Ireland want a piece of it. At least the Kenny project, after so much abuse about long term investment in the best home grown manager for decades, is showing green shoots.
The public already craves a modern philosophy that might even launch a sustainable future.
Now all that needs to happen is for the FAI board and its English based chief executive Jonathan Hill to endorse the management. They could convene as early as next week to rubber-stamp a new deal. It would take an unnatural disaster here, or in Luxembourg on Sunday, to alter the course of Kenny’s young Irelanders.
Judging from the last international window, Jeff Hendrick alongside Anderlecht’s Josh Cullen will need to puppeteer a famous performance. The same Hendrick who looked awfully like Andrea Pirlo in Baku has not seen a second of football for Newcastle United since. If only Cullen could lend him a fraction of the 1700 minutes he has banked this season across the Belgium and European club scenes.
Because the loss of Manchester City’s Bernardo Silva is unlikely to weaken Portugal as Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes, Liverpool’s Diogo Jota and Atletico Madrid’s baby faced killer João Félix will ask fresh questions of an Irish team that dealt admirably with their ferocious attack in September. Until Ronaldo’s injury-time moment of alchemy.
“Portugal have got a few different players who can play in there, I’ll wait and see who they go with,” said Hendrick. “It’s going to be tough, they move the ball well and as the manager says, they press well.
“It’s going to be down to us to do the same to them, be comfortable on the ball, make them work when we have it. The flipside is when they have it, we need to be in their faces.”
Gavin Bazunu struggled with his distribution in Faro before a string of heroics overshadowed what could easily become another nervy night for the teenage stopper.
Andrew Omobamidele’s sore Achilles, while a loss, offers Nathan Collins the chance to show what many Burnley fans already know. Whether the 20-year-old can make the giant leap Omobamidele achieved so seamlessly in Portugal remains to be seen.
“Nathan is certainly in contention, that’s for sure,” said Kenny.
By late on Thursday Ireland will know if they can finish third in Group A. If they lose and Luxembourg beat Azerbaijan in Baku, Sunday’s final game against the team that almost derailed the Kenny era with last March’s 1-0 victory at a soulless Aviva will become another dead rubber besides the revenge element.
Finishing fourth in a World Cup qualifying pool is by no means a new low. Eoin Hand’s Ireland missed out on Mexico ‘86 after slumping behind Denmark, USSR and Switzerland, Brian Kerr’s team failed to get past France, the Swiss and Israel in 2005, while Giovanni Trapattoni’s five-year reign ran aground behind Germany, Sweden and Austria in 2013.
Kenny will probably not suffer the same fate as his predecessors who were all subsequently dismissed for not reaching the big show.
Portugal manager Fernando Santos hardly comes to Dublin without concerns as João Cancelo, Rúben Dias, José Fonte, João Palhinha, Renato Sanches and Jota are one yellow card off missing the more important match at home to Serbia on Sunday.
“That can subconsciously condition you,” said Santos. “We know Ireland are a strong team that are driven by the public. We saw the match against Serbia and the last 15 minutes they were overwhelming because they fight a lot.
“They know how to play, they try to play starting with their goalkeeper. When they don’t have that option they have players to fight for the second ball.”
If Thursday night descends into scraps for the ‘second ball’ then Lansdowne Road’s rediscovered soul can become a major factor. Or Ronaldo will silence the masses. Either way, it is unmissable.
Ireland (Possible): Bazunu; Collins, Duffy, Egan; Coleman, Hendrick, Cullen, Doherty; McGrath, Robinson; Idah.
Portugal (Possible): Patrício; Cancelo, Pepe, Dias, Dalot; Moutinho, Danilo; Félix, Fernandes, Jota; Ronaldo.
Referee: Jesús Gil Manzano (Spain).
