ROBBIE BRADY HAS been called up to the Irish squad with Callum O’Dowda emerging as a major doubt for tomorrow’s Euro 2024 qualifier against France with a groin strain.
O’Dowda scored in the midweek win over Latvia and was in line to start, so his likely absence would represent a blow to Stephen Kenny’s plans. James McClean is the likeliest to start if O’Dowda does miss out, with Brady brought in to add cover.
Elsewhere, doubts linger over captain Seamus Coleman’s availability. Coleman wasn’t included on the bench against Latvia as he had a thigh strain, and has not taken part in full training this week. Kenny is not yet ruling Coleman out of contention tomorrow night, with a lot hinging of how he comes through training at Abbottstown this afternoon.
In better news, Adam Idah has been passed fit to play against France, despite his club boss David Wagner ruling him out of contention.
The visit of France is a daunting challenge but Kenny insists now is not the time for Ireland to rip up their progressive gameplan.
“We’ve been working on a way of playing for the last two years”, said Kenny at today’s pre-game press conference. “We’re very, very comfortable in possession; as comfortable as any team in Europe now in possession. Why would we change now? Why would we take a step back now? This is the time that the team needs to show conviction, when the lights come on in the Aviva and the atmosphere is rocking as it will ever be and as electric as it will ever be.
“And France, one of the best teams in the world coming at us, do we just suddenly change and not have to courage to do that? And just accept a slow death? Definitely not. And I think we’ll show, and we’ll need to show, fire and ice. We need to show fire, we need to have that level of tenacity in our play and aggression in our play but also have composure in possession and have that level of calm in our play in possession. And it’s trying to combine the two. It’s not easy, not easy against the best team in the world who are in formidable form as we saw the other night but that’s the way we will definitely approach it.”
Kenny did admit Ireland will have to make provisions to “counter the counter-attack” off which Kylian Mbappe and France are so lethal.
“It would be naive not to have provisions. We are not naive enough to suggest that we don’t have to pay attention to him because obviously he’s an exceptional player but they have a lot of exceptional players.”
France warmed up for Monday’s game with a 4-0 hammering of the Netherlands.
“They were very good”, said Kenny. “Obviously we have seen a lot of France. They have been the best team in the world over the last eight years for sure, consistently getting to two world cup finals, winning the world cup, losing the second one on penalties. It was an impressive performance, very rare a number one seed with world class players as Holland are, get taken apart like that and defeated convincingly.”
