In football, comparisons often get dismissed as whataboutery. And isn’t visualisation just getting ahead of yourself? Heimir Hallgrimsson has been fretting over a possible penalty shoot-out at the Havelock Road end at Lansdowne Road next Tuesday with Denmark fans packed behind the goal as though it were a home game for them, but now his mind is at ease. The away fans — of which there will be only 500 — have been hoicked off into a corner. Should Robbie Brady strike the winning penalty after extra time and send Ireland to their first World Cup since 2002, it will be in front of the delirious green army. And then we woke up.
Penalties could also be required on Thursday in Prague against Czechia and Hallgrimsson has that contingency covered, he hopes. Four days ago, Hallgrimsson went to see his predecessor Stephen Kenny to pick his brains about the last penalty shoot-out Ireland were involved in: a play-off semi-final against Slovakia for the 2020 Euros which Ireland lost 4-2.
“It was good to have his experience,” Hallgrimsson said. “There are always one or two things you learn from talking to him.”
He said that Ireland probably WON’T be practising penalties before the Czech game certainly, as they have only two proper days on the grass before the game — “I am not so sure that training penalties would be such an asset, especially when you look at the time we have. Other things are more important. I might have this back in my face.”
When it came to comparisons, it was difficult to avoid thinking of Roy Keane’s comments back in 2016 when Ireland assistant manager that “I always felt the Everton players were going to turn up on crutches or crawling in the hotel door.”
Hallgrimsson was so spooked by information emanating out of Everton that he left Séamus Coleman out of the opening two games of the qualifying group — a clear mistake at the time which he has now owned up to and now he seems to have a won’t-get-fooled-again type of attitude.
Coleman himself, who has always been willing when anywhere near full fitness, hasn’t played since November. Chiedozie Ogbene is much the same, both due to hamstring tears and then difficulties getting back in the team once fit. Robbie Brady has made two substitute appearances in the Championship this season and Bosun Lawal has been out for the past six weeks for Stoke City with hamstring trouble — yet all are in the squad and are likely to see some action.
Hallgrimsson could easily have picked Conor Coventry — who did well coming on against Portugal in Dublin — but Lawal’s height clearly puts his services at a premium. “Their strength is set pieces and crosses into the box and bringing in [Tomas] Soucek, from West Ham, he is a late runner into the box. It is those things we need to be aware of. First, trying to neutralise what they are going to bring — now I am talking tactics here, shit, didn’t mean to do that! — but I was thinking about what threats they offer and how we can exploit what happens in the game.”
Hallgrimsson has been on a somewhat belated tour of training grounds in England, but he doesn’t appear to have stopped off at Stoke, where the manager Mark Robins says he has not spoken to him. Robins isn’t happy with Hallgrimsson, as anybody who saw his mood at Preston on Friday night will quickly testify.
Lawal has been out of action for six weeks but could play a role for IrelandMaynard Manyowa/News Images/Alamy
After a 3-1 defeat on a bumpy surface in which Robins made four substitutions but kept Lawal on the bench, he quietly fumed about the holding midfielder’s international call-up: “He is just not ready and I couldn’t take that chance. I couldn’t take the risk, especially on this pitch tonight. He hasn’t done enough training. I can’t say that enough. He’s not done enough training.”
Hallgrimsson said bluntly on Thursday that Lawal “is ready to come and that’s what matters for us, not what his coach thinks.”
Not surprisingly, Robins is not impressed. In the old days, a Matt Busby or Alex Ferguson would have closed the door firmly, but players these days are less subservient and Lawal has been in regular touch with the Ireland manager.
“I’ve heard he has been talking to him on a daily basis,” Robins said, “but I am saying that I’m seeing him and he hasn’t done enough work, and he has broken down three times this season. And he has had hamstring problems each time. I want to try and make sure that he plays for us first in a fit state. Then he will be more robust to compete on a regular basis, because he’s a really good player, which is why he’s been called up for Ireland. I hope that he comes back. I hope he plays. I hope they do brilliantly and I hope they get the outcomes that they’re after.”
Robins was preceded by a far more mellow Paul Heckingbottom, the Preston North End manager, who can see only positives in Brady hooking up with Ireland, hinting at the fact that the 34-year-old Dubliner will probably be a free agent at the end of the season.
Brady is the type of personality that Hallgrimsson will need against Czechia, says HeckingbottomLee Parker – CameraSport via Getty Images
“It’s really important for Robbie,” Heckingbottom said. ”I want him to go and play and train and be around it. He has potentially got a huge, huge summer, you know what I mean? Robbie has worked his socks off, and he has been training a lot. We got him back in the team. We had a little scare with him a couple of weeks ago, but that was all put to bed.
“Robbie will definitely be up for it. I know the manager likes him, trusts him, as much for his personality, and his hunger, and his desire as anything else. The manager has got to win the game and he has picked his best squad.”
Ryan Manning, also a set-piece specialist, will probably get the nod over Brady as a left-sided wingback and we wait with bated breath to see if Ireland’s emerging playmaker Finn Azaz gets to tee up Troy Parrott again. Going into the previous two games Hallgrimsson was hanging by a thread. Now he has a new contract and Ireland’s chances are now better, albeit hanging on a hamstring.
Czechia v Ireland
World Cup play-off
Thursday, 7.45pm
TV RTE2 from 7pm