YOU CAN GAUGE the national anticipation for another clash with Portugal by the contents of yesterday’s pre-match press conference, in which there were more mentions of Armenia than team for whom the press conference existed.
Portugal were mentioned 12 times across 18 minutes with Heimir Hallgrimsson and Evan Ferguson. Armenia got 17 mentions.
Yes, the defeat in Yerevan last month was so bad that we are all still coming to terms with it, but the level of focus on Armenia rather than Portugal also speaks to the feeling of sheer hopelessness with which we are all afflicted going into tonight’s game. What, truly, is there to preview here at all?
Ireland have a chance of getting something from this game in the sense that we all have a chance of one day being struck by lightning. Hallgrimsson’s team are realistically here to keep the score down, and so limit the damage to their goal difference while also keeping something in reserve for Tuesday’s must-win reunion with Armenia.
A victory next Tuesday, provided Portugal go on to beat Hungary at home on the same night, will mean that Ireland can take their hopes of finishing second down to the final game in Budapest, although goal difference may dictate the need to beat Hungary by an unreasonable scoreline.
Hallgrimsson is this week stalked by fears of a familiar cadence, whereby Ireland pour all their energy into the first game in a window only be spent by the time of their next kick-off.
“If we go back, win in Finland, lose in Greece, win against Finland, lose against England, played well against Senegal and not so good against Luxembourg, and in my opinion well against Hungary and losing in Armenia”, said Hallgrimsson. “So it’s a trend. We always need to see if we are doing something, if we need to do something differently.”
But unfortunately they can’t afford to effectively write off tonight’s game to preserve energy for Tuesday because. . . well, Kevin Kilbane’s midweek comments on Off the Ball explain why.
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“I don’t know if you have said this, that in the Portugal game there is nothing to lose. Jesus Christ, there is a lot to lose. You could get absolutely annihilated and it could be the biggest disaster ever.”
And we know that Portugal will be utterly ruthless. Cristiano Ronaldo is targeting a thousand career goals before he retires and given he is currently on 946, he will see the prospect of facing Ireland as another feast. This is also their first home game of the campaign, and thus their first time at home since the tragic passing of Diogo Jota. The 52,000-capacity Estadio Jose Alvalade sold out days ago.
“For us, out of a tragedy we are now in a mission”, said Martinez. “The dream of Diogo was to win the World Cup and for us it’s the responsibility to carry on that dream with his standards, with what he was bringing to the national team. He will be our strength and our guidance for the rest of the history of this national team, he is part of this team forever.”
Hallgrimsson was at pains yesterday to point out that Ronaldo is far from their only scoring threat, and Roberto Martinez’ attacking obsession is a snug fit for a team as stacked as this. They are obviously laden with individual attacking talent – Ronaldo, Bruno Fernandes, Joao Felix, Rafael Leao, Bernardo Silva, and Pedro Neto most obviously – but Martinez also gives huge freedom to the likes of left-back Nuno Mendes, who will occasionally pop up at centre-forward.
Martinez can get frankly weird with his set-ups, as he did away to Hungary last month, starting Ruben Neves at centre-back while shifting to a back three in possession in which Vitinha dropped to be the deepest player as a kind of quarterback. Hungary lost 3-2 but they made hay with these strange shifts, their goals coming from moments in which Vitinha and Neves were caught out as makeshift defenders.
That might offer Ireland some hope, although Joao Neves’ injury reduces Portugal’s options for such wild flexibility. They played a traditional 4-3-3 in last month’s 5-0 win against Armenia and it’s to that Martinez is most likely to return tonight.
What on earth can Ireland do to counteract all of this? Stephen Kenny perhaps showed a blueprint in Faro four years ago, in which Ireland sat deep in a back five but retained a constant counter threat. Adam Idah’s hold up play on the night was remarkable, while Aaron Connolly consistently attacked the space left behind the Portuguese right-back. Ireland scored from a corner but were also denied a blatant penalty by the Slovenian official, Mr. Jug.
“We have a game plan that we think is going to work”, said Hallgrimsson yesterday. “We’ll see tomorrow if that materialises.”
Ireland must offer some kind of attacking threat tonight, because history is littered with the vanquished who thought it was a good idea to sit deep against Ronaldo, who provides the greatest penalty-box threat in the history of the game. Hence a deep block that forces Portugal out wide merely plays into their hands: it’s rare that you’ll find an elite team so happy to sling crosses into the box as Portugal. For context, Ireland attempted 42 crosses in that frantic home game with Hungary, but Portugal attempted only nine fewer against the same opponents three days later.
Ronaldo celebrates his second goal against Ireland in Faro in 2021. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
Hallgrimsson last week said that he may reprise Ireland’s first-half plan against England at Wembley, in which Nathan Collins played as a kind of pseudo-midfielder, dropping into the middle of the defence whenever England had the ball. This forced England wide, but Portugal’s threat in those areas are far greater.
Judging by yesterday’s pre-game training session, Collins won’t be returning as a midfielder and he may even be in a scrap to get into the team at all. A training game saw both sides line out in a flat back five without the ball, in which both wide men sunk deep. Given Portugal are happy to have their full-backs play even higher than Ronaldo at times, these roles will be crucial.
John Egan and Seamus Coleman have been brought back for their experience and leadership, meaning they will presumably play to address the leadership void that took hold in Yerevan. “The more leaders you have”, said Hallgrimsson yesterday, “the better team you have.”
Jayson Molumby has also been brought back, and is in a fight with Jack Taylor to partner Josh Cullen in midfield, while either or perhaps both of Chiedozie Ogbene and Festy Ebosele will start, given Ireland desperately need pace in the team.
Evan Ferguson is a rare good news story at the moment, given he has scored in each of Ireland’s last three competitive games, and is happily fit to start. Troy Parrott is also ahead of schedule in his injury recovery and so is available tonight.
Ireland will of course rely on set pieces, including long throws, though one tactic to watch will be the hovering of Ireland’s full-backs into midfield positions at times: this may be a chance to exploit Bruno Fernandes’ lack of defensive work and thus outnumber Portugal centrally. Merely getting the settled possession to do this will be regrettably difficult, however.
Hallgrimsson has plainly said that Ireland need to get three points at a minimum from this window, and has himself admitted they are more likely to come against Armenia on Tuesday. Hence tonight is a night to be endured. Hallgrimsson says Ireland must be perfect to get anything out of the game, but when you take a look at the Portuguese squad, you realise that perfect may not even be good enough.
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Perfect may not even be good enough for Ireland in forbidding Portuguese test
YOU CAN GAUGE the national anticipation for another clash with Portugal by the contents of yesterday’s pre-match press conference, in which there were more mentions of Armenia than team for whom the press conference existed.
Portugal were mentioned 12 times across 18 minutes with Heimir Hallgrimsson and Evan Ferguson. Armenia got 17 mentions.
Yes, the defeat in Yerevan last month was so bad that we are all still coming to terms with it, but the level of focus on Armenia rather than Portugal also speaks to the feeling of sheer hopelessness with which we are all afflicted going into tonight’s game. What, truly, is there to preview here at all?
Ireland have a chance of getting something from this game in the sense that we all have a chance of one day being struck by lightning. Hallgrimsson’s team are realistically here to keep the score down, and so limit the damage to their goal difference while also keeping something in reserve for Tuesday’s must-win reunion with Armenia.
A victory next Tuesday, provided Portugal go on to beat Hungary at home on the same night, will mean that Ireland can take their hopes of finishing second down to the final game in Budapest, although goal difference may dictate the need to beat Hungary by an unreasonable scoreline.
Hallgrimsson is this week stalked by fears of a familiar cadence, whereby Ireland pour all their energy into the first game in a window only be spent by the time of their next kick-off.
“If we go back, win in Finland, lose in Greece, win against Finland, lose against England, played well against Senegal and not so good against Luxembourg, and in my opinion well against Hungary and losing in Armenia”, said Hallgrimsson. “So it’s a trend. We always need to see if we are doing something, if we need to do something differently.”
But unfortunately they can’t afford to effectively write off tonight’s game to preserve energy for Tuesday because. . . well, Kevin Kilbane’s midweek comments on Off the Ball explain why.
“I don’t know if you have said this, that in the Portugal game there is nothing to lose. Jesus Christ, there is a lot to lose. You could get absolutely annihilated and it could be the biggest disaster ever.”
And we know that Portugal will be utterly ruthless. Cristiano Ronaldo is targeting a thousand career goals before he retires and given he is currently on 946, he will see the prospect of facing Ireland as another feast. This is also their first home game of the campaign, and thus their first time at home since the tragic passing of Diogo Jota. The 52,000-capacity Estadio Jose Alvalade sold out days ago.
“For us, out of a tragedy we are now in a mission”, said Martinez. “The dream of Diogo was to win the World Cup and for us it’s the responsibility to carry on that dream with his standards, with what he was bringing to the national team. He will be our strength and our guidance for the rest of the history of this national team, he is part of this team forever.”
Hallgrimsson was at pains yesterday to point out that Ronaldo is far from their only scoring threat, and Roberto Martinez’ attacking obsession is a snug fit for a team as stacked as this. They are obviously laden with individual attacking talent – Ronaldo, Bruno Fernandes, Joao Felix, Rafael Leao, Bernardo Silva, and Pedro Neto most obviously – but Martinez also gives huge freedom to the likes of left-back Nuno Mendes, who will occasionally pop up at centre-forward.
Martinez can get frankly weird with his set-ups, as he did away to Hungary last month, starting Ruben Neves at centre-back while shifting to a back three in possession in which Vitinha dropped to be the deepest player as a kind of quarterback. Hungary lost 3-2 but they made hay with these strange shifts, their goals coming from moments in which Vitinha and Neves were caught out as makeshift defenders.
That might offer Ireland some hope, although Joao Neves’ injury reduces Portugal’s options for such wild flexibility. They played a traditional 4-3-3 in last month’s 5-0 win against Armenia and it’s to that Martinez is most likely to return tonight.
What on earth can Ireland do to counteract all of this? Stephen Kenny perhaps showed a blueprint in Faro four years ago, in which Ireland sat deep in a back five but retained a constant counter threat. Adam Idah’s hold up play on the night was remarkable, while Aaron Connolly consistently attacked the space left behind the Portuguese right-back. Ireland scored from a corner but were also denied a blatant penalty by the Slovenian official, Mr. Jug.
“We have a game plan that we think is going to work”, said Hallgrimsson yesterday. “We’ll see tomorrow if that materialises.”
Ireland must offer some kind of attacking threat tonight, because history is littered with the vanquished who thought it was a good idea to sit deep against Ronaldo, who provides the greatest penalty-box threat in the history of the game. Hence a deep block that forces Portugal out wide merely plays into their hands: it’s rare that you’ll find an elite team so happy to sling crosses into the box as Portugal. For context, Ireland attempted 42 crosses in that frantic home game with Hungary, but Portugal attempted only nine fewer against the same opponents three days later.
Hallgrimsson last week said that he may reprise Ireland’s first-half plan against England at Wembley, in which Nathan Collins played as a kind of pseudo-midfielder, dropping into the middle of the defence whenever England had the ball. This forced England wide, but Portugal’s threat in those areas are far greater.
Judging by yesterday’s pre-game training session, Collins won’t be returning as a midfielder and he may even be in a scrap to get into the team at all. A training game saw both sides line out in a flat back five without the ball, in which both wide men sunk deep. Given Portugal are happy to have their full-backs play even higher than Ronaldo at times, these roles will be crucial.
John Egan and Seamus Coleman have been brought back for their experience and leadership, meaning they will presumably play to address the leadership void that took hold in Yerevan. “The more leaders you have”, said Hallgrimsson yesterday, “the better team you have.”
Jayson Molumby has also been brought back, and is in a fight with Jack Taylor to partner Josh Cullen in midfield, while either or perhaps both of Chiedozie Ogbene and Festy Ebosele will start, given Ireland desperately need pace in the team.
Evan Ferguson is a rare good news story at the moment, given he has scored in each of Ireland’s last three competitive games, and is happily fit to start. Troy Parrott is also ahead of schedule in his injury recovery and so is available tonight.
Ireland will of course rely on set pieces, including long throws, though one tactic to watch will be the hovering of Ireland’s full-backs into midfield positions at times: this may be a chance to exploit Bruno Fernandes’ lack of defensive work and thus outnumber Portugal centrally. Merely getting the settled possession to do this will be regrettably difficult, however.
Hallgrimsson has plainly said that Ireland need to get three points at a minimum from this window, and has himself admitted they are more likely to come against Armenia on Tuesday. Hence tonight is a night to be endured. Hallgrimsson says Ireland must be perfect to get anything out of the game, but when you take a look at the Portuguese squad, you realise that perfect may not even be good enough.
Ireland (Possible XI): Kelleher; Coleman, Egan, O’Shea, Manning; Ebosele, Cullen, Taylor, Ogbene; Idah, Ferguson
On TV: RTÉ Two; KO: 7.45pm
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2026 world cup qualifiers match preview Portugal Republic Of Ireland