World Cup qualifier: Ireland 1 (Ferguson 70) Armenia 0
Ireland: Kelleher; Coleman (Ogbene 64), O’Brien, O’Shea, Collins (capt), Manning; Smallbone, Molumby; Azaz, Ebosele (Parrott 64), Ferguson (Idah 81).
Armenia: Avagyan; Hovhannisyan, Piloyan, Muradian, Mkrtchyan; Spertsyan, Iwu, Tiknizyan; Barseghyan (capt), Ranos, Shaghoyan (Zelarayan 45).
Other Group F game:
Portugal 2 (Ronaldo 22, 45+3) Hungary 2 (Szalai 8, Szoboszlai 90)
Here is Ken Early to enjoy:
That’s all from me for tonight, good night!
How the group looks after four games:
- Portugal 4 3 1 0 11 4 Points: 10
- Hungary 4 1 2 1 8 7 1 Points: 5
- Ireland 4 1 1 2 4 5 -1 Points: 4
- Armenia 4 1 0 3 2 9 -7 Points: 3
If Hungary beat Armenia by a couple of goals, then Ireland really need to beat Portugal in Dublin, as otherwise they’d need to beat Hungary 5-0 in Budapest.
Here are the player ratings:
[ Ireland 1 Armenia 0: How the Irish players rated at the Aviva StadiumOpens in new window ]
Here is the match report:
Festy Ebosele: “We did what we needed to do. There’s no easy games in international football. We were knocking on the door, we needed fresh legs, the subs were amazing. Them going down to 10 men helped a lot. We need to take every game as it comes and see from there.”
Full-time: Ireland 1 Armenia 0
Got the win, but left more than a few out there against 10 men, didn’t do enough to make up the goal difference.
Hungary have equalised against Portugal. Liverpool star Szoboszlai with it. Not good news.
93 mins: Six minutes stoppage time. Another chance for Ireland, they will rue these, as Idah and Parrott get mixed up between each other.
90 mins: Idah misses again! Ogbene puts in a deflected cross, but he can’t get to it. Corner is taken but goes nowhere.
Idah goal disallowed for offside! Azaz had done very well to hold it up and lay it off to Idah to finish, but ruled out deservedly.
87 mins: A very poor period by Ireland where they give the ball away to nobody three or four times despite having an extra man.
Meanwhile a bizarre moment where the Armenia manager seemed to kick the ball before it went off the pitch.
84 mins: Incredible save by the goalkeeper! Looked like a certain goal, Manning puts it to Idah six yards out and another great save, should still score though. Could have been a better pass and a better finish, but the keeper does so well.
81 mins: Ogbene wins a corner after good running on the counter, a risky moment for Ireland though as an Armenian player goes down in the box, but no penalty.
Manning’s corner, three of them lined up for it but get in each other’s way.
Ireland subs now. Ferguson looks disappointed to be taken off for Idah. Taylor on for Smallbone.
78 mins: Slowed down a bit for Ireland and then Armenia had a half-chance if they saw Spertsyan’s run.
Another yellow card suspension, Manning gets it sadly.
73 mins: Another chance for Molumby after good play by Parrott in the cutback. Unfortunately a few moments earlier, Molumby got a yellow card so will miss the next game.
70 mins: GOAL FOR IRELAND! Evan Ferguson with the header. Great delivery by Smallbone on a plate for Ferguson to head low below the keeper.
69 mins: It’s all Ireland now. Big chance for Evan Ferguson, through in the box after being fed by Azaz, but it’s a good save by the keeper. Should have done better though Ferguson.
65 mins: Great moment by Ebosele, before he is harshly taken off, beats his man and puts in a low cross which is eventually hooked wide on the turn by Molumby. Parrott and Ogbene are on. Coleman also off.
57 mins: Ireland should really be going for more than a goal here given the goal difference in the group, but one goal for a start would be good.
Nearly a goal! Fantastic save by Avagyan, super header by O’Shea low in the corner and is deflected, he somehow hooks it away. Worldie stuff. Then Collins can’t get his feet right for the rebound.
53 mins: An incident with Barseghyan making a headbutt movement towards Azaz.
Red card for Armenia! Wow, unexpected. Sent off for a headbutt. He was rattled from the crowd in the first half.
Then a big chance for Ireland! Collins heads well from a cross from Manning, great save by the keeper onto the crossbar. O’Shea can’t score the follow-up.
50 mins: First shot on goal for Ireland is a weak header, but better play by Coleman, who dummies and puts in a good cross to the back post. Azaz should take it down but heads it weakly towards the goal. Coleman then leads the press, trying to get things going.
47 mins: Dangerous player on for Armenia off the bench as Zelarayan comes on, the number 10 and wins a free immediately.
Half-time: Ireland 0 Armenia 0
Dour stuff, 11 men behind the ball in their own half at home to Armenia. Zero shots on target when a win is needed.
In the other game, Ronaldo has scored again at the stroke of half-time. That’s 2-1 Portugal. But may matter more for Armenia than Ireland the way it’s going.
45 mins: Poor stuff by Ireland, five minutes of injury-time, can they get a stoppage-time goal? Doesn’t look like it.
43 mins: Ebosele, who has been one of Ireland’s best players, wins a free-kick but it’s just floated into the box and doesn’t lead to anything.
40 mins: To sum up the edginess, Collins nearly makes an error with Kelleher.
Then a counter attack by Armenia, and the best chance of the game. Deep cross to Spersyan and he’s free to volley it but just wide! Let-off.
36 mins: It’s all very laboursome, Coleman puts in a cross that is way too high, Manning tries to head it back in and then O’Shea fouls in the air.
Barseghyan receives treatment for a head injury and gets booed, he gives it back to the crowd, doesn’t like it.
33 mins: Long throws have not worked so far, Ebosele can’t get the ball up to the front post.
30 mins: No attempts on target by Ireland, but when you set up so defensively at home when you need to win, can you be too surprised?
Ebosele is trying though and beats one man with his pace, tries to beat another but slips and falls over.
27 mins: Long throw by Ebosele doesn’t really go far enough and O’Shea bravely gets it towards goal but offside. Got a bang for his trouble.
Goal for Cristiano Ronaldo for Portugal, and Portugal are back 1-1 against Hungary!
22 mins: That’s better, Ebosele with great direct play, runs down the wing and beats his man and puts in a good low cross to the edge of the box. Manning takes the shot and drags it wide.
20 mins: Coleman with an overhead kick attempt, yes you read that right, but he missed as Ireland put in a few dangerous crosses but nothing to test the keeper.
17 mins: Azaz fouls Barseghyan out of frustration really as Ireland can’t get a kick past four or five minutes. Ireland sitting very deep. Star midfielder Spertsyan takes a shot straight at Kelleher, but first shot on target for either team.
14 mins: Gone a bit quiet as Armenia have a good spell of possession, Barseghyan heavily involved.
11 mins: It’s not good news from Lisbon as Hungary have taken the lead against Portugal. Szalai with the goal. Looks like a positive start by Hungary, who haven’t sat back.
8 mins: Good pressing ends up with Ferguson with the ball just outside the box. Tries to take on the defender one on one but just runs straight into him and loses it.
5 mins: On replay it was a fairly reckless challenge, lucky to get away with that Armenia without a card, probably only because it’s so early. Free-kick about 30 yards out to the side, good delivery by Smallbone and Ferguson gets a head on it but blocked out for a corner. Another great delivery by Smallbone, O’Brien connects but well wide.
2 mins: Ireland going direct early with O’Shea trying to get Azaz in behind. Ireland win a dangerous free after Coleman got kicked in the face. Ouch.
Teams are out on the pitch and kickoff is in a few minutes.
Some info on Armenia before kickoff:
[ Recent history gives Armenia belief in getting positive result in IrelandOpens in new window ]
Also a reminder that six Irish players are at risk missing the next game if they get yellow cards:
Collins, Ferguson, Kelleher, Manning, Ebosele and Molumby.
Portugal have named a similar team against Hungary that they did against Ireland, two changes as Semedo and Veiga come in for Dalot and Inacio.
Portugal: Costa; Semedo, Dias, Veiga, Mendes; Neves, Vitinha, Bruno; Neto, Bernardo, Ronaldo
Hungary: Tóth, Nego, Orban, Szalai, Kerkez; Schafer, Styles, Szoboszlai; Bolla, Varga, Sallai
Portugal will qualify with a win, and it would be very much in Ireland’s interest too. That kicks off at the same time.
Some pre-match quotes:
Heimir Hallgrímsson: “I’ve always been honest with you, I believe in this team. I think this team has everything to qualify for the World Cup. We are not the favourites in the group at the moment, but a win tomorrow could change that. I believe we are going to do it.
“This team is about collective work, whether it’s in attack or defence. Taking that from Portugal, how we beat Armenia is as a collective. We need to win the game and we cannot lose our focus in the beginning. We need to be smart and manage the game throughout.”
Séamus Coleman: “We need to understand that it is not a given on Tuesday night. We do sometimes play a bit better against teams like Portugal as maybe it suits us to defend. That is why Tuesday night is important in a different way, we are expected to take the game to them.”
The team is out!
Ireland: Kelleher; Coleman, O’Brien, O’Shea, Collins (capt), Manning; Smallbone, Molumby; Azaz, Ebosele, Ferguson.
A defensive line-up for a home game and considering they need goals, defended much better against Portugal, but they had zero shots on target and zero corners. So that will obviously have to change.
Cullen and Ogbene out, Azaz and Smallbone in. Troy Parrott is on the bench.
Here is the match preview from Mary Hannigan:
A month on from that defeat to Armenia in Yerevan and Republic of Ireland captain Nathan Collins still can’t make sense of where it all went wrong that night. “Football’s such a mad sport, anything can happen,” he said on Monday. “We just never got going. It really hurt because we knew as a team we were so much better than that.”
Well, if they don’t prove it at the Aviva Stadium on Tuesday evening when they meet Armenia again, then they can, most probably, bid adieu to any hope of qualifying for next summer’s World Cup. What they need, said Collins, is a performance much more akin to the one they produced in Lisbon last Saturday, albeit, need it be said, with a different result.
It goes without saying too that they have to be considerably more adventurous, one Portuguese newspaper suggesting that Ireland played the game with a 10-0-0 formation. So little service did Evan Ferguson receive, Troy Parrott too when he replaced him late on, he probably felt that that was indeed how they’d set up.
“It wasn’t fun to be a striker in our team,” Heimir Hallgrímsson conceded, “they had limited chances to show their attacking qualities”. He didn’t, though, rule out playing five at the back again, because of how “comfortable we felt defending”, but if he goes down that route he’ll expect his wing-backs to spend a lot more time in the opposition’s half this time around than in their own.
[ Ireland gear up for must-win Armenia clash with back five a possibility againOpens in new window ]
One Irish footballer that will be playing in the World Cup is Pico Lopes, who played centre-back last night for Cape Verde, as they won their African qualifying group, a tremendous achievement for a small island nation.
Here are some permutations to watch out for in the upcoming games, it’s all about giving themselves a chance going into Hungary. The game tonight between Hungary and Portugal is important then, we need Portugal to beat Hungary and by quite a few goals wouldn’t hurt either.
Hello and welcome to live coverage of the Republic of Ireland’s World Cup Group F qualifier against Armenia, from the Aviva Stadium. Kick-off is at 7.45pm.
This is a must-win game for Ireland if they have any designs on staying in with a shout of qualification for the World Cup in North America last summer. Armenia’s 2-1 win over Ireland in Yerevan though showed this is not an easy task, but Irish eyes will be set on revenge. Josh Cullen misses the game through suspension.
Here is the squad available for Heimir Hallgrímsson tonight. The starting team will follow when it is available,
Republic of Ireland squad – Portugal & Armenia
Goalkeepers: Caoimhín Kelleher (Brentford), Gavin Bazunu (Southampton), Mark Travers (Everton).
Defenders: Séamus Coleman (Everton), Jake O’Brien (Everton), Nathan Collins (Brentford), Dara O’Shea (Ipswich Town), Jimmy Dunne (QPR), John Egan (Hull City), Ryan Manning (Southampton), Will Ferry (Dundee United).
Midfielders: Conor Coventry (Charlton Athletic), Will Smallbone (Millwall), Jack Taylor (Ipswich Town), Jayson Molumby (West Bromwich Albion), Finn Azaz (Southampton).
Attackers: Evan Ferguson (AS Roma), Troy Parrott (AZ Alkmaar), Adam Idah (Swansea City), Mikey Johnston (West Bromwich Albion), Chiedozie Ogbene (Sheffield United), Festy Ebosele (Istanbul Başakşehir), Kasey McAteer (Ipswich Town).
