On a journey towards the Aviva on a Friday morning, the captain and manager of the Ireland squad found themselves reminiscing about a remarkable night. This discussion wasn’t about dwelling on the past, despite the topic being a surprising fixture from the Euros’ last 16 in France on June 27th, 2016 when Iceland had triumphed over England, with a scoreline of 2-1.
In an hour’s time following their travel, during the manager’s press briefing, Hallgrímsson referred to that evening as quite extraordinary. “The strategies worked, and our attempts at goals proved fruitful.” He further spoke about England’s missed opportunities, referring to it as one of ‘those’ days, optimistically wishing for a repetition the next day.
Despite utmost confidence in their team’s performance, he knew deep down that even if they played their best, victory over a formidable team like England wasn’t a given. They had to deliver their best performance and remain hopeful.
At the end of the day, that’s what games like these boiled down to. When countries in the middle rankings like Ireland are pitted against the top-tier ones like England, passion and national pride can only contribute so much. Past experiences echo that the winning equation comes when one team is on the mark with every move, and the rival team has a bad day on the pitch, as seen eight years ago with Iceland.
Interestingly, the Irish team doesn’t fall short when it comes to experience. In the recent past, they have had multiple encounters with many of the highest-ranking international squads. Since 2020, they’ve squared off against top 10 FIFA-ranked teams no less than 10 times, which marks a contrast to the mere two similar games they played in the preceding four years.
The outcome of these fixtures held no surprises. From the Euro invasion in 2012, involving a defeat, 3-1, to Croatia (then eighth globally) to the present, they’ve counterbalanced top 10 squads in 20 matches, none of which were particularly successful.
Over the span of the last twelve years, the record shows that 20 games have been played, of which only one was a victory, 14 ended in defeat and 5 resulted in a draw. This resulted in 9 goals scored whilst 43 were conceded. The solitary victory was scored over Germany in 2015 in an unforgettable match featuring Shane Long. Out of the total games played, 12 concluded with the side unable to score. The singular occasion they managed to net more than one goal happened in a 2-2 draw against Belgium in March 2022.
Throughout this period, Coleman has remained a constant presence, even though injuries sidelined him for many of the matches against formidable opponents. His highest achievement in these matches was a goalless draw against Portugal at the Aviva in 2021. Hard work and effort seem to be showing negligible returns overall.
According to Heimir Hallgrímsson, the key to success for Ireland is to function as a unified, cohesive team. He emphasises that progress is possible only when working together as an ensemble.
In terms of performance, a home defeat of 1-0 against France in 2023 is often regarded as Ireland’s finest display in recent years. During that game, Benjamin Pavard capitalised on a lateral pass from Josh Cullen, marking an unforgettable goal. This certainly reinforces the notion that even a single blunder can lead to devastating outcomes when competing with world-class teams.
Expressing his thoughts, Coleman says, participating in such games is an enriching experience. He acknowledges that although at times the team fell short, on other occasions they represented themselves well. Over time, the younger members have accumulated valuable experience that’s making handling pressure from top nations easier.
Despite the record appearing gloomy, Coleman firmly believes that Ireland held its own during matches against formidable rivals like France, the Netherlands and Portugal. He maintains the opinion that they were far from being outperformed in those encounters.
During John O’Shea’s tenure, they have played six matches against top-10 teams, suffering five losses and achieving a friendly draw against Belgium. O’Shea experienced his football career in higher pressures but doesn’t allow that to weigh him down. His main message now is success is not an unreachable fantasy. Regardless of the opponents, it’s a game to be played.
“This week, we discussed the meticulous planning and analysis that precedes each match,” said O’Shea. “Also, we talked about the significance of breaking down and conveying the opposition’s strength and weakness to the players, laying emphasis on exploiting them. The crucial element in any game is its significant moments and seizing opportunities when they arise.
“The essential realization players need to have is their tangible presence and impact in these games. They had opportunities where a different result was possible. So, it’s about combining all these elements. When I was a player, my main takeaway was realising you have a definite chance in the game.”
‘We need to enter the game with complete confidence that we have the potential moments and opportunities to inflict damage. There’s a considerable possibility of that for us, especially on home ground.’
— Will Smallbone
Does Ireland stand a chance against England? Much less likely. Lee Carsley has relieved many of his first-choice players from duty. However, he has at his disposal a team of players from Champions League teams. On the other hand, Hallgrímsson only has a single midfielder who has proven his position as a starter in a Premier League team.
Will Smallbone, the midfielder in question, has made a decent start to the season with Southampton, despite their three consecutive losses. In his ensuing Irish career, he has already competed against Portugal, the Netherlands and Belgium. It’s fair to term these as experiences for his learning curve.
“The key is to stay in the game, being invested in it from start to end,” Smallbone says. “There can be a sudden turn of events when playing against top-quality players. In each of the games you mentioned, we’ve created opportunities till the final minutes.”
On our end, we head into the match with ardent optimism hoping to exploit various moments and opportunities to inflict damage on them. Especially on our home ground, we reckon the odds of victory would significantly tilt in our favour.
Although, in the broader scheme of things, one might interpret this as the players merely giving out expected reassurances, and in an attempt to instil optimism, turning the whole situation on its head. What point does it make to highlight to Smallbone that, against Portugal last summer, there was little opportunity for Ireland to fight back when they were 3-0 down at the 60-minute mark?
The players of Ireland are far from naïve. They understand the capabilities of England. More importantly, they recognise their own strength. Primarily, they also understand that the new manager’s reign will not be evaluated on outcome of games against stronger teams likes England, France or Portugal.
A triumph on Saturday would be an outstanding milestone, for sure. But, the real test for Hallgrímsson would be games like the upcoming one on Tuesday against Greece who, despite having an exceedingly poor record against, could prove decisive. In both friendlies and qualifiers, Ireland has faced Greece five times under four different managers and their best result was a draw, secured by Don Givens-led team back in November 2002. Apart from this, they’ve consecutively been on the losing end.
This trend desperately needs revamping. Not precisely the outcomes against Greece, but against teams of similar ranking. Greece is currently placed 50th in global rankings, whereas Ireland stands at 60. The only feasible way to climb the ranks includes securing victorious results against teams of similar ranking, a task in which Ireland has been lagging for a while now.
In 2017, James McClean’s winning goal in Cardiff against Wales, then the 13th ranked team, helped Martin O’Neill’s team clinch victory. However, in the seven years since, Ireland has managed exactly four competitive victories against teams in FIFA’s top 100. Those were Georgia (91st) in 2019, Luxembourg (93rd) in 2021, Scotland (45th) and Armenia (92nd) in 2022.
Stephen Kenny may argue that he faced a streak of bad luck as he fronted 20% of his games against football powerhouses France, the Netherlands, England, and Belgium as Ireland’s manager. However, it wasn’t these matches that led to his losing of the role. His position was compromised due to losses against rank 52 and 51 Greece (who managed to overpower Ireland both on their home turf and away), 27th placed Ukraine, Armenia in 91st place, Luxembourg at 98th, and 30th placing Serbia.
During Hallgrímsson’s leadership with Iceland, they gained recognition for their remarkable results against teams heavily laden with star talent. England’s defeat was the most notable, though they also triumphed against the Netherlands twice, and held Portugal and Argentina to a draw in significant tournaments.
Yet the key to their presence in those tournaments was due to their knack for claiming victories against teams like Turkey, Finland, Ukraine, Croatia and the Czech Republic – waters where Ireland has not found success in a while.
Hallgrimsson noted that when facing elite teams or top ranked ones, the preparation shouldn’t vary significantly. He suggested there is little room to keep switching between strategies. Improvements must be made in the current system.
He believes that in order for Ireland to make progress, functioning as a reliable, unified team is crucial. Success can only be achieved through a collective effort – no matter the adversary, whether it be England or Greece. The same working philosophy must be adhered to.
While it would be warmly welcomed if this approach could secure a victory against England, the true test of its effectiveness will undoubtedly be when up against Greece.