MOST IRISH FOOTBALL fans can list off the team’s best-ever victories without thinking too hard.
Beating England by a single goal at Euro ’88, the 1-0 ’94 World Cup defeat of Italy in Giants Stadium, the triumph over Holland in the 2002 World Cup qualifiers, and more recently, the victory against Germany in the Euro 2016 qualifiers (we really do love winning 1-0 against the big sides).
Nevertheless, there is a case to be made that overcoming Belgium would be a greater achievement than all the aforementioned occasions.
Granted, they are not as good a side as their current second-place spot in the Fifa rankings suggests.
But the Belgians undoubtedly are far superior to Ireland on paper.
A recent study by the Football Observatory suggests the Belgium squad is the fifth most valuable team in the competition, with their players priced at €550.2 million combined.
Ireland meanwhile are 17th (€99.8 million). At €78.3 million, Belgium’s most valuable player Eden Hazard is almost as expensive as the entire Irish side.
Moreover, try to be as objective as possible and consider how many Ireland players would get into Belgium’s starting XI — at a stretch, you might say two: Seamus Coleman and Robbie Brady, given the Red Devils’ problems at full-back.
And factors such as these explain why a victory on Saturday would be such an incredible achievement for the Boys in Green.
Ireland may have played better sides before in past famous wins, but they surely have never had a weaker team than in this instance.
That said, the likes of Jason McAteer, Ray Houghton and David O’Leary have become heroes since playing an integral part in Ireland’s famous past victories.
Tomorrow, the nation will hope that a new set of legends can come to the fore.
What do you think? Have your say in our poll below.
Given what’s at stake and given the calibre of the opposition, would beating Belgium be Ireland’s greatest ever victory?
Poll Results:
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