To Progress, Ireland must first realise their faults
It never seems to be plain sailing if you're a supporter of the Irish national football team. They're a team that constantly find ways of making everything seem difficult. That being said, under the guidance of Martin O'Neill, the team has gone through a small resurgence in recent years culminating in a great Euro 2016 campaign in France. They also added to that with some great results like their 1-0 victory over Germany in the Aviva. However, despite a clear upturn in results under Martin O'Neill, it would be fair to say that the overall style of play is still one lacking creativity and excitement.
Ireland go into their final qualification game tomorrow against Wales with a win the only result to potentially satisfy them. A win against Wales would secure second place in the Group, a playoff spot and would finish a good and solid campaign. However, people are not really interested in 'solid' campaigns, Irish fans want Playoff matches, they want World Cups. Satisfying this nation's keen football fan base is a tough assignment given the resources available to us, but by no means an impossible feat. One only has to look at Northern Ireland to realise that it doesn't necessarily take all the talent in the world to get top international results. Unfortunately, there are problems to the Republic of Ireland's style of play and philosophy in these qualification games. Stemming from a heavy amount of experienced personnel in the squad, the team usually plays safe and careful football, defence been placed in much higher regard than attack. A strong defence paired with an aggressive and hardworking midfield has led Ireland to a certain level in the international pyramid. Although, they must realise to progress even further, changes have to be made.
One could definitely make the point that the squad in recent years has been one stacked with older players. This is shown by the average age of the Euro 2016 squad being 29.4 years old and even the average age of this thirty man squad selected for these Moldova and Wales games tallies in at 28.3. These averages are old, too old for many people's liking. The ages don't necessarily mean poor performances, but the slower, older men do lend themselves to mistakes and often sloppy use of the ball. This Irish team lacks intensity, it lacks flair and overall leads to not an extremely attractive type of play. The exception rather than the rule is Wes Hoolahan. The thirty-five year old playmaker still holds all his natural ability at this age and is one of the very few players on the team who clearly values the ball. Possession is not top priority on many Irish player's lists, but it is for Wes Hoolahan. However, despite being our main sources of chance creation and goals, Hoolahan finds himself spending more time parked on the bench that out on the field strutting his stuff. The reason for his lack of participation at times is unclear, O'Neill obviously feeling his lack of physique doesn't suit the sort of team he's going for. These decisions can often lead to be the biggest mistakes.
International football as a whole is a tricky concept to know what style suits the best. When you see the exploits of Northern Ireland under Michael O'Neill you begin to wonder how much team cohesion counts in this game. As much as cohesion should be valued in international football, you still need to create and score goals, alongside maintaining a solid defence. Ireland has the latter, but the former is an issue that's been around ever since the post Robbie Keane goal scoring era. Having only mustered up a meagre eleven goals in nine qualifying games so far, the recent decision to add fresh faces like Sean Maguire and Scott Hogan have been welcomed with open arms. It is bringing in the likes of Sean Maguire that is the future of Irish football, he's young, raw and fresh and possesses an extreme quality for finding the back of the net.
In my opinion, Ireland need to start fresh after the end of this qualifying campaign, whether they end up in the World cup or not. A younger set of players is required to come through and put their names on the map. A new era is required for Ireland to try find further progress in the international sphere. This current set of players have done their jobs, and done their jobs well but it's time for the likes of Duffy, McCarthy and Maguire to accept the major roles, a new spine is required. Wales tomorrow will be watched with keen interest by the majority of soccer fans in our country, the result could mean so much, the stakes are indeed very high. I'm a typical football fan, I hope, I believe and I will support, let's hope the old guard has one last thrust left in their battle.