A lot has been written in the last few weeks about the significance of qualification, by the Republic of Ireland senior women’s national team, for a first ever major tournament would be. The very same can be said of Jim Crawford’s men’s under-21s.
On the cusp of a maiden qualification for the Uefa under-21 European championships, Ireland must navigate a difficult two-leg playoff against a strong Israel side.
When you look back at some of the quality players that have come through the underage international teams, it’s almost hard to believe that Ireland have never made it to a major tournament at this level. To do so this time would be really significant.
The experience of being away at a tournament like that cannot be underestimated. To play against the best players in Europe (or the world) is a vast opportunity to develop as a player particularly for those that may not have yet broken into regular first-team football.
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The final tournament will be jointly hosted by Romania and Georgia in June 2023 with 16 teams competing. Being away with the group in a different culture, playing against different opposition with different styles of play for an extended period of time changes everyone that gets to be part of it. The experience lives with you for the rest of your career.
In the grand scheme of things you would prefer to play the second leg at home, but on this occasion, Ireland are in Tallaght for the first leg with 7,000 tickets (at the time of writing) gone for the game. It’s so, so important that those with tickets actually go the game.
Making home advantage count could really make a difference especially if Ireland could go into the second leg with superiority on the scoreboard. The trend in this campaign suggests there will be goals. There have been 759 goals scored in the 247 qualification matches, an average of 3.07 goals per game.
Both Ireland and Israel conceded 10 goals in their respective qualifying campaigns, with Israel edging it on goals scored with 19 compared to Ireland’s 16. However, Israel have a genuine susceptibility to attacks down their right-hand side with at least six of the 10 goals they conceded coming from attacks that engaged their right-back.
Throughout the campaign, Israel have played three different players in this position, with Karem Jaber mostly favoured. However, positionally he has a tendency to engage and commit too early, allowing himself to be taken out of the game and leaving space to exploit in behind him. Their two centre-backs also have a tendency to allow centre-forwards get into the space between them, with neither picking the player up. These are areas that Ireland can definitely exploit in this evening’s game.
The vast majority of Israel’s squad are home based and on their day, with their strongest 11 on the pitch, they can be difficult to play against, proving this in their 1-0 defeat at home to Germany and their 3-2 defeat away. However, they have at times had to make changes and they do they do not have the depth in their panel, which was evident in how they struggled to put Latvia away, losing 1-0 away to them in June and needing an 89th minute winner in a 2-1 home victory at home.
They are a physically strong team, especially in close one-on-one duels and they have forward and attacking midfield players (particularly Oscar Gloukh) that will punish teams if they are given any kind of time or space in the box. They do leave gaps at the back, even when their strongest back four available. With Celtic attacker Liel Abada named in Israel’s senior squad for their Nations League game against Albania on Saturday night, it is suspected he could be available for the under-21s for the return leg in Tel Aviv on Tuesday.
From an Irish perspective, I don’t recall the familiarity the public has with this team as being evident with previous under-21 squads. The fact that all the games in this campaign have been broadcast on RTÉ 2 has been brilliant and has really helped to generate genuine interest in Crawford’s side. But it’s worth reiterating that those with tickets should really try to get to the game and give the lads the support they deserve as they bid to make their home advantage count tonight.
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There is no denying the loss of Gavin Kilkenny through injury is significant. His centre midfield partnership with Conor Coventry has been a cornerstone of Ireland’s successes in the campaign so far, and with Luca Connell also out, this is a genuine blow for Jim Crawford.
With the further withdrawals of Liam Kerrigan, Mark McGuinness and David Harrington through injury, Crawford has called up Burnley’s Dara Costelloe, Adam Reilly and David Odumosu of St Pat’s and NAC Breda’s Anselmo Garcia MacNulty. The surprise, but welcome, inclusion of Aaron Connolly to the strong attacking options mean that Ireland can still have genuine confidence going into these games.
They won’t be easy fixtures against Israel, but Ireland still possess the quality to cause an upset and secure that elusive qualification. It would be a scintillating achievement if they can do it.
