California Dreaming accompanied a FAI promotional video this week and Heimir Hallgrímsson is predicting a chaotic circuit for Ireland to complete the transatlantic voyage next year.
Saturday Night Fever was an apt summation of what unfolded in their opener against Hungary, the first time an Ireland side cancelled out a two-goal deficit in a competitive match for 43 years.
Chaos at the start came in the form of two goals conceded within 15 minutes. Chaos at the end through a flurry of crosses that led to Adam Idah’s stoppage-time equaliser.
Lots in between to present the 50,137 attendance with a kaleidoscope of emotions to consume their weekend.
Trends tend to affix to Ireland managers. For Stephen Kenny, who was in attendance on Saturday, his undoing was goals shipped straight after half-time, typically from distance.
Hallgrímsson’s pattern is chasing the game. This was the eighth time in his nine competitive game at the helm that Ireland fell behind.
Fighting back to extract a draw at the death in such dramatic circumstances offers a springboard to complete the four-point mission from the window in Armenia tomorrow.
Whereas some managers demur at such fluctuations, attacks swinging from one to the other with yellow cards aplenty and in this case a red for the visitors, Ireland’s supremo is at peace.
Armenia tomorrow ought not to generate this level of stress but with this nation there are no guarantees. Yerevan and Ireland are not harmonious bedfellows.
Brian Kerr’s side were content to take a draw in 2003, Giovanni Trapattoni’s relieved to nick a win through Keith Fahey in 2010, while Kenny’s proclamations of winning the Nations League group were scuttled by Eduard Spertsyan’s winner in 2022.
Hallgrímsson has now engineered three wins and a draw from half of his losing situations.
Coughing up the opener against the group’s lowest seeds isn’t in the script but you get the sense he won’t panic were the habit to continue.
While every Irishman, in his view, couldn’t sleep on Saturday, still abuzz from the frenzied finish, the 58-year-old wasn’t losing any of his in the comfort of Castleknock Hotel before Sunday’s long flight east.
“If it helps us, I really like more chaos than calmness,” he reasons.
“I think we have so much energy and so much physical strength in our team that we shouldn’t be a calm team. We should use that power to help us win games.
“It cannot continue as a trend to concede the first goal, especially early in the game.
“But if it helps us release pressure, then it’s better to concede in the second minute than in the 60th minute.
“We’re at our best when we’re on our front foot. And I think Irish people like to see us on the front foot, being brave in action, going for it, crossing and winning duels.
“That gives energy to the crowd. I felt like that was growing, growing, growing as the game on Saturday went on.
“I just must again compliment the fans that came. They helped us amazingly.”
In keeping with the oscillating nature of the game, fans went from jeers at half-time to a cacophony of cheers by the finish.
Hallgrímsson and his staff were using the lengthy spell in airspace to both glean improvements from Saturday and identify where the Armenians can be gotten at.
An injury to Sammie Szmodics guarantees at least one change but his array of options, bolstered by the impact of Corkmen Idah and Chiedozie Ogbene off the bench, is sure to influence a few more amid the three-day turnaround.
Yerevan’s Republican Stadium was packed on Saturday to see Cristiano Ronaldo run amok with two goals in a 5-0 drubbing of a side under the new management of Yeghishe Melikyan.
Ireland won’t be facing such a boisterous atmosphere but fears of complacency had Hallgrímsson declaring parallels with the Eurovision song contest.
“It’s easy to get carried away and be overconfident from thinking because Armenia lost, it will be an easy game,” he warned about the second part of the double-header.
“I hope that the media, the public and my players will not think that way because I know when you lose big, you come strong in the next one.
“We should respect Armenia. It’s just like Iceland, when you go to Eurovision, we always think we have the best song but we never go through the qualifying round.
“There is nothing given. From our analysis, we know Armenia have had good results at home. They also have this extra day to recover because we played later on Saturday and travelled through Sunday.”
Hallgrímsson left the dressing-room at half-time to brief his fitness coach Damien Doyle on readying Jack Taylor for action. That didn’t ensue until 20 minutes into the second half but the freshness he highlights gives all five substitutes deployed on Saturday a chance of starting.
“Definitely,” he replied when asked if he was conscious of avoiding a repeat slump.
“We created lots of chances against Hungary but we were thinking both having fresh legs as substitutes and nicking in a goal.
“We grew into the game, getting better and better. The rest is history.”
By maintaining his penchant for beating lower seeded teams on Tuesday, Hallgrímsson would be one third of the way towards creating a new story.