Despite their failure to progress to the play-off stage of next year's UEFA Under-18 championships, Republic of Ireland manager Brian Kerr says he's satisfied his team played to its potential. Ireland play Bulgaria here in Sardice this afternoon in what is a friendly in all but name as they complete this qualifying mini-tournament in the Czech Republic.
The hosts, having beaten Ireland in last Sunday's first game, rubber-stamped their passage through to a play-off with neighbours Austria, to determine who qualifies for the finals in Finland next summer, by beating the Bulgarians 2-0 on Tuesday.
"I feel we've extracted the maximum from them in terms of their ability," said Kerr of this squad. "Overall, we can't have much complaint. I believe we played quite well against the Czechs while against Moldova we were very good, especially in the first half. This squad lacked a player of the calibre of Robbie Keane, Damien Duff or a Richard Dunne which could have made a difference. It didn't have an individual of that quality, but there is some potential and I'm happy with how they've performed."
Ireland make one main change for today's game, with Wayne Henderson given his first start of this tournament when he replaces Barry Roche in goal.
Today: (2.0) Czech Republic v Moldova (Pavlovice), Bulgaria v Republic of Ireland (Sardice).
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