![\"Sport](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/3651250_1_org_pick.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThat clash against the Canadians is for the likes of uncapped trio Jaden Umeh, Mason Melia and Dawson Devoy to be blooded.<\/p>\n
Qatar share their World Cup group with Canada and Hallgr\u00edmsson knows from his two-and-a-half years managing Al-Arabi in the Gulf State their strategy of naturalising foreign-born players in time for hosting the last tournament in 2022.<\/p>\n
Sudanese striker Almoez Ali, for instance, is their focal point in attack, his 12 goals bettered only by Erling Haaland\u2019s 16 in World Cup qualifying across all confederations.<\/p>\n
Julen Lopetegui\u2019s side sit four places ahead of Ireland at 55 in Fifa\u2019s rankings but their problem heading Stateside is a paucity of matches.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Their March series of three friendlies was cancelled due to the invasion by Iran and then the Ebola outbreak.<\/p>\n
That they\u2019ve lost three of their last four games, to Zimbabwe, Palestine and Tunisia, should convince Ireland they can stretch their unbeaten run to seven (excluding the penalty shootout heartbreak in Prague).<\/p>\n
Hallgr\u00edmsson\u2019s side should resemble the one that found form in the past seven months. Kelleher will operate behind a familiar back three, with Liam Scales potentially moving into the left-wing back role.\u00a0<\/p>\n
S\u00e9amus Coleman winning his 80th cap on the opposite flank is a given.<\/p>\n
Jumping ahead of midfield, Troy Parrott has shaken off a rib injury that curtailed his involvement in likely his last Eredivisie game last Sunday week to be passed fit.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The combo of Chiedozie Ogbene and Jack Moylan, so effective against Grenada, are tipped to support Ireland\u2019s ace marksman.<\/p>\n
Molumby\u2019s status as one of the manager\u2019s go-to outlets should see him harness midfield, with the other spot offering scope for a newcomer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Killian Phillips\u2019 Ireland career, to some, perished from an erratic substitute\u2019s appearance in defeat to Armenia last September but he\u2019s back in the fold.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Joe Hodge is the other option in the engine-room and appears the favourite of the uncapped cohort to be unleashed.<\/p>\n
Had Southampton not been kicked out of the playoff final, and their replacements Middlesbrough not lost it on Saturday, then Finn Azaz, Ryan Manning, Alan Browne and Alex Gilbert might be available.<\/p>\n
The manager admits the quartet, three of whom featured against Czechia, could be overtaken by the supporting cast with a view to the Nations League kicking off with a four-game window straddling September and October.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got the reasons why they\u2019re not here and we\u2019re just happy with the players we have,\u201d Hallgr\u00edmsson said about the drop-outs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re trying to focus on those that we are working with, not those not here.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe negative side of not coming, being injured, is you give others an opportunity to play and shine. Hopefully this is like what happened in Spain when Jack Moylan grabbed his opportunity with a hat-trick.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about moments and being ready when the opportunity comes.<\/p>\n
\u201cS\u00e9amus talked about these daily habits, training hard every day, so that you\u2019re ready when the opportunity comes.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about motivation and daily habits.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Had Ireland reached the World Cup, then a swansong Stateside beckoned for Coleman.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A chat with the Icelander on the back of the team bus after training influenced the 37-year-old\u2019s decision to break ties with Everton after 17 years in pursuit of gametime to remain active for Ireland.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe needs to stay as fit as possible,\u201d Hallgr\u00edmsson said about the veteran\u2019s next club move.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully he will play more than he did this season but he proved me wrong.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe doesn’t need to play much to be playing at an international level, so I’m really happy that he’s staying on and playing on.<\/p>\n
\u201cLook at this squad, the value of having a player like him and more of the other players, with all these younger players taking their first steps in an international stage, is massive.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the heatwave subsides, it’s time for cool heads to crystalise what can be gained from a summer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":470667,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[53093,61,60,43,1842],"class_list":["post-470666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-sport-top-picks","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-republic-of-ireland-mnt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=470666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470666\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/470667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}