{"id":65127,"date":"2025-10-07T14:48:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-07T14:48:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/65127\/"},"modified":"2025-10-07T14:48:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T14:48:07","slug":"troy-parrott-future-focused-as-ireland-look-to-rescue-faltering-world-cup-aspirations-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/65127\/","title":{"rendered":"Troy Parrott future-focused as Ireland look to rescue faltering World Cup aspirations \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Troy Parrott<\/a> feels there is no point dwelling on Armenia as Ireland<\/a> set about attempting to reconstruct a crumbling World Cup<\/a> qualifying campaign in Portugal this Saturday. <\/p>\n

The AZ Alkmaar striker missed Ireland\u2019s opening games in the group \u2013 a home draw with Hungary and an away defeat in Armenia \u2013 because of a knee injury.<\/p>\n

But he has been recalled to the squad for Saturday\u2019s trip to Lisbon and the subsequent home fixture against Armenia next Tuesday, though his availability for selection remains uncertain as he continues to make his way back to full fitness.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel good, I\u2019m progressing really well. I just have to take it day by day and see where I end up when the game on Saturday comes around,\u201d says Parrott.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0World Cup qualifiers: Fixture details, team news and where to watchOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, I\u2019d love to play and I\u2019m going to do everything I can to try and be available for the game, but I think at this stage that I\u2019m at, we just have to wait and see.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 23-year-old watched the Armenian game on television, frustrated like all Irish fans at the outcome which has left Ireland\u2019s World Cup qualification hopes hanging by a thread. <\/p>\n

But Parrott feels Ireland can still progress from the group.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not going to be over until it\u2019s over. We have two more chances coming up now and our focus is on the game on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a new camp. Look, we can all sit around and dwell on the past, or else we can try and do what we can with what we have and where we are right now. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe simple answer is that we lost the game in Armenia, so we have to now focus on these two games and see what we can do and still try to qualify.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone in the changing room, everyone in the staff, the coaching staff, we all know that it wasn\u2019t good enough. But it\u2019s happened now, it is what it is. We can\u2019t dwell on it. It\u2019s not going to change anything now. As I said before, we can only move on to what\u2019s in front of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Parrott believes there must be collective responsibility for the defeat.<\/p>\n

\"RepublicRepublic of Ireland manager Heimir Hallgr\u00edmsson after the 2-1 loss away to Armenia last month. Photograph: Ryan Byrne\/Inpho <\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone has to take it. People can sit here and maybe blame the manager, the manager\u2019s not on the pitch. He puts out a team, he gives the tactics, the players are out there. Yeah, all of us take the blame together. That\u2019s the way it has to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Evan Ferguson<\/a> now an injury doubt for this weekend, it has been a frustrating period for those who would like to see Parrott and the Meath man get a concerted run of games together up front for Ireland.<\/p>\n

Parrott has been showing the most clinical form of his career since moving to AZ Alkmaar in the summer of 2024. He has already bagged 10 goals this season, so the knee injury arrived at a very inconvenient time. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is probably the best that I\u2019ve played in my career so far, at the start of this season, just in terms of the goals and the performances,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo to have it taken away was difficult to deal with. I was so excited for the two games (against Hungary and Armenia), so to not be able to come, it was hard to take.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t predict what\u2019s going to happen, but I feel good, I feel confident and I feel fit. So hopefully I can pick up where I left off.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parrott had been linked with a move back to England during the summer transfer window but after blossoming in the Netherlands, the striker was in no rush to pack his bags and leave AZ Alkmaar.<\/p>\n

\"TroyTroy Parrott in action for AZ Alkmaar during their Europa League game against Roma in January. Photograph: Alex Bierens de Haan\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t really interested in moving in the summer, to be honest,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was comfortable where I was and I believed that having another season in the Netherlands would really benefit me. I wasn\u2019t paying any attention to any outside noise.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really enjoy it there, I enjoy playing football, I enjoy the life there, so I was always fixed on staying for another year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a completely different style of football. A lot of the football I played in England was in the Championship, where the games are really physical, long balls, tackles.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the Netherlands, it\u2019s more focused on playing with the ball. I feel that suits me a lot more than the long balls and fighting. So that\u2019s probably one of the reasons why it\u2019s worked out so well so far.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the unintended consequences of staying put is that Parrott will now get the opportunity to play against Shelbourne in the Conference League as Joey O\u2019Brien\u2019s side visit Alkmaar on November 27th. Parrott grew up near Tolka Park but was a Shamrock Rovers fan as a kid.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really looking forward to that one, I wish it was here (in Dublin). I think it\u2019ll be a good game. I\u2019m hoping they bring a good crowd with them as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was always a Rovers fan growing up, so I was out in Tallaght, it\u2019s the way I was brought up. I just preferred the green and white when I was younger.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Troy Parrott feels there is no point dwelling on Armenia as Ireland set about attempting to reconstruct a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":65128,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4700,61,60,43,1842,44452,4018],"class_list":["post-65127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-heimir-hallgrimsson","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-republic-of-ireland-mnt","tag-troy-parrott","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65127","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=65127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65127\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}