Ireland U21s look to get Euro qualification campaign back on track in Sweden
Republic of Ireland Under-21s boss Jim Crawford predicts an intriguing game against Sweden in BorĂĄs today. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA
Jim Crawford has urged his Ireland U21s to hold off Sweden's revenge mission for last November’s loss in Tallaght and wrest control of their own destiny as they chase an historic berth at Euro 2023.
The Republic of Ireland has never qualified a men’s team for a major tournament at this level but Group F has proven to be an unpredictable and rocky road for all the contenders with Italy, Sweden, and the Boys in Green all dropping unexpected points so far.
Sweden sit top with 14 points from seven games but Italy are behind only on goal difference having played one less. Bosnia and Herzegovina lie third with 11 from eight and Ireland are fourth with 10 after six outings.
Win today in Borås (5pm, live on RTÉ2), a town 40 minutes east of Gothenburg, and Ireland would likely jump above third-placed Bosnia-Herzegovina, who are in action today against Italy in Trieste, and move to just a point behind the Swedes with a game less played.
The group winner, still likely to be the Azzurri, qualifies automatically with the runner-up entering a playoff and Crawford’s side will see out the campaign with home games against the Bosnians and Montenegro before a June date in Italy.
Ireland have beaten Sweden three times in a row at this level, twice under Stephen Kenny in the last campaign and then that 1-0 victory at home last year courtesy of Ollie O’Neill, and Crawford knows exactly what their hosts today will be thinking.
“Certainly revenge. They are a pot two team, seeded second in the group. I’m sure they probably felt hard done by in Tallaght, but I can imagine it's going to be a high press from them. They will be aggressive, they will fancy themselves, and it will be a different type of Sweden team.
“They will make changes, with (Anthony) Elanga with the senior team, but it will be a different approach to the one we got in Tallaght. They have a new manager and I am sure he will look at the way we play, identify weaknesses that he can exploit. It's going to be an intriguing game, that's for sure.”Â
Adding to that intrigue is the presence in the Swedish U21 ranks for the first time of the nation’s next big thing, Roony Bardghji, who has already played seven times and scored twice for FC Copenhagen in the Danish league having turned 16 last November.
The midfielder has already merited a number of lengthy tribute videos on YouTube and he is 13 months younger than Ireland’s own wunderkind, Brighton forward Evan Ferguson, who is one of a handful of key players missing today for a mixture of reasons.
Also absent is Festy Ebosele, who will leave Derby County for Udinese this summer, and Southampton midfielder Will Smallbone. All are significant losses no matter how much Crawford urges others to make the most of the opportunity.
“The players have got to deal with this kind of environment to go on and impress with the senior team,” he said. “The players know the importance of it. It’s going to be a fantastic learning environment for them, to be playing in games of this stature.”Â
Jens Gustafsson is the new Swedish boss. He took over last November from Poya Asbaghi, who accepted the top job at Barnsley in the English Championship, and Bardghji is just one of seven new faces from the squad that featured in Dublin.
This is the first competitive game either side has played since and the sense of the unfamiliar when it comes to the hosts’ personnel and approach will extend to the artificial playing surface even if the visitors have trained on similar in the last week.
It’s impossible to overstate the importance of this one. Crawford himself described it as the biggest game of the group for Ireland. It is, in effect, a sliding doors moment: win and the finals are a real possibility, slip up again, and it’s all but over.
Draw and the best-case scenario could be that they would need to win in Italy.
They have missed penalties away to both Luxembourg and Montenegro, conceding a late equaliser to the former and two inside the first 10 minutes when losing to the latter. This is a day when everything needs to come together across the 90 minutes.
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