Republic of Ireland 0
Belgium 0
AN INTERREGNUM THIS may be, but it was a heartening one.
Belgium are fourth in the world and unbeaten since the 2022 World Cup, but their streak would have been ended in Dublin had Evan Ferguson not slipped and miscued his first-half penalty.
John O’Shea did not deviate wildly from Stephen Kenny’s later blueprint: this was similar to what we saw last year with a hint more conservatism. Consequently Belgium had vanishingly few chances to score, and Ireland avoided defeat to a side ranked above them for the first time since the 1-1 draw with Ukraine in June 2022.
The FAI posted on social media of today marking a new era but truly this is a week on a threshold, as John O’Shea keeps the seat warm for the mystery manager to be announced next month.
And while O’Shea did hand a full debut to Sammie Szmodics – the only real snub of the Stephen Kenny era – he resisted full-scale experimentation, as he stuck with Kenny’s back three. More often it looked like a back five, with Seamus Coleman and Robbie Brady returning to play as either wing-back. Evan Ferguson led the line, the tip of a forward line ‘V’ along with Szmodics and Chiedozie Ogbene.
Ireland began brightly, following a principle of ‘first pass forward’ when they won the ball back in high areas. It almost led to early success: first Cullen popped the ball to Szmodics, who instantly slipped the ball through for a galloping Ogbene. He ignored the options to his right and pulled his shot into the side-netting, though an offside flag spared him too much agonised regret.
Belgium slowly exerted their control over the game from there, with Leandro Trossard tucking in from the left wing to cause Ireland a few troubles, and it was his cross that Youri Tielemans glanced wide in what was Belgium’s first opening. But while Ireland often ceded possession and territory to their opponents, Caoimhín Kelleher was hardly put under any first-half stress. Belgium are building back after their golden generation, but they were diminished of their few remaining stars today. Be grateful Kevin De Bruyne wasn’t fit to play the Trossard role.
Parts of the Irish performance looked pretty familiar to the previous era too, as Irish play occasionally relapsed into long periods of desultory possession, in which the trio of centre-backs knocked it about among themselves. Szmodics was a good addition in this respect: he proved adept at dropping off between the lines to take a couple of much-needed line-breaking passes.
For all of Belgium’s bloodless superiority, Ireland should have led at the break. It came from a set-piece: Brady floated a deep free-kick to the top of the box, with Nathan Collins making the first contact and Dara O’Shea the second, the latter seeing his hook toward goal bounce off Arthur Vermeeren’s head and onto his dangling arm.
It was a harsh penalty, but Evan Ferguson is learning that this sport is harsher. He arrived into this game having not scored in any of his previous 20, and after a lengthy wait, slipped and scuffed his penalty into the midriff of the diving Matz Sels. Every footballer endures their sloughs of form: Ferguson has got his first one early.
He didn’t allow his head be bowed, however, and almost created an opening goal just before half-time, in true Quinn-and-Keane fashion. Ferguson held a defender at bay to flick a long ball into the box, onto which Szmodics pounced but could only volley over.
Belgium boss Domenico Tedesco went bolder after the break, introducing Jeremy Doku and Michy Batshuayi to attack Ireland in a kind of 4-2-4. But still they toiled, thanks in large part to Coleman’s shackling of the usually electric Doku. Coleman is the squad’s elder statesmen but on the basis of this performance should remain the first name on the next manager’s teamsheet.
It was Ireland who instead created the chances, with Szmodics scuffing a shot after neat play from Ogbene and Smallbone, while Ferguson headed over just 11 seconds after the resumption as Ireland bewitched their opponents with a pre-rehearsed move from the kick-off.
It wasn’t until the 75th minute that Kelleher had to reprise his Liverpool form, diving to his right to push away Tomas Meunier’s shot in what was the only occasion in which Ireland were cut open.
Kelleher endured a nervy moment shortly after, when Openda went crashing to the floor of the penalty area when in his vicinity. The referee was unmoved by Openda’s operatics.
O’Shea’s first move was to exchange his entire front three with 20 minutes remaining, with Jason Knight, Adam Idah, and Mikey Johnston all introduced. They made little impact as the game drew to a pretty drab conclusion.
The atmosphere warmed in the final minutes when Brian Kerr, standing apart at the tunnel, was shown to the crowd on the big screen and met with one of the loudest receptions of the night. Whatever this game can be said to have meant: there was significance in that moment, at least.
Republic of Ireland: Caoimhín Kelleher; Seamus Coleman (captain); Andrew Omobamidele, Nathan Collins, Dara O’Shea; Robbie Brady (Robbie Brady, 80′); Will Smallbone (Festy Ebosele, 86′), Josh Cullen; Chiedozie Ogbene (Jason Knight, 70′), Sammie Szmodics (Mikey Johnston, 70′); Evan Ferguson (Adam Idah, 70′)
Belgium: Matz Sels (Thomas Kaminski, 82′); Timothy Castagne (Thomas Meunier, HT), Wout Faes, Koni De Winter (Amadou Onana, 64′), Olivier Deman; Youri Tielemans (captain) (Michy Batshuayi. HT), Arthur Vermeeren, Aster Vranckx; Leandro Trossard (Jeremy Doku, HT), Lois Openda, Johan Bakayoko (Dodi Lukebakio, 63′)
Referee: Rohit Saggi (Norway)
Attendance: 38,128
