Ireland go into Tuesday’s FIFA World Cup qualifier against Armenia knowing that anything but a win would derail their slim hopes of qualification.
The Boys In Green are rock bottom of their group, leaving Portugal empty handed after late heartbreak despite a much more controlled performance.
That loss followed their nightmare defeat to Armenia in Yerevan last month, a result which undermined their late comeback draw at home to Hungary.
Yet, Ireland could find themselves in second-place if they beat Armenia in Dublin, and Portugal beat Hungary in Lisbon.
That outcome would leave Ireland in control of their play-off fate, before hosting Portugal and traveling to Hungary in November.
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Victory is imperative on Tuesday and Ireland boss Heimir HallgrÃmsson was blunt in stressing that fact.
Calling on his players to deliver that win, he shared his pre-match optimism that they will get that job done but admitted that he would take a ‘sh**ty’ performance if it meant getting the victory.
“The result is the only thing that matters tomorrow,” he said in his Monday press conference.
However we do it, I would take a sh**ty game and win 1-0. Yeah, this is a result game, 100%.”
HallgrÃmsson address Ireland’s second match issue
One problem has lingered: Ireland’s drops in performance levels in the second game of their fixture double-headers.
That rock-bottom performance in Yerevan came days after a valiant draw in Dublin, while their victories over Finland in the Nations League were succeeded by emphatic defeats to Greece and England.
HallgrÃmsson is wary that Ireland must change their mentality to stop faltering in the second fixtures of international double-headers like in the past.
‘So first of all it’s the load control. I accept the question, I’ve said it myself, this has been a trend, playing worse in the second game.
“And we as coaches want to find whatever we can do to change it. So the load and recovery from game one to game two, that’s one thing we’ve been focusing on.
“Another thing, rotation of players. So we managed to do substitutions last game, it was a tough game. So we managed to do substitutions maybe earlier than we would have, knowing this fact.
“But then again, just switching the players on. So mentally, if it’s a mental thing, we switch the players on. Early, switch the focus to Armenia. That’s the things we can do and then it’s down to player selection on the day.”
There is plenty of debate regarding that player selection given rotation is guaranteed and here is our team to get the job done in Dublin.
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