Jim Crawford eyes slice of history as Ireland prepare for Italian job

Victory in Ascoli would secure Ireland's U21s top spot in Group F

Jim Crawford: 'It would be fantastic for the players to go to win and get to the first finals.' Picture: Niall Carson/PA 

The town of Ascoli Piceno has, until now, merited the most minor of footnotes in the long history of Irish football. That will change Tuesday afternoon if the Republic of Ireland’s U21s can shock their Italian hosts in their final Euro 2023 Group F qualifier (kick-off 4.30pm).

It was in Ascoli that Liam Brady brought his seven-year Serie A odyssey to a close, the Dubliner’s only campaign with a just-promoted side ending with a more than respectable 12th-place finish and then a return to England with West Ham United.

Fashion a win against Italy there Tuesday and Jim Crawford’s youngsters will write up a much more significant chapter by finishing top of their group and securing automatic qualification for next year’s tournament in Romania and Georgia.

“The stakes are really high here,” said Crawford who, aside from centre-back Oisín McEntee who misses out with a shoulder problem, has a fully fit squad. “To know a win can get you into the finals, that’s our aim.

“First and foremost, can we hold onto the ball better than the last time against Italy? Can we get our defensive structure right? If we can, the result has every chance of taking care of itself. It would be fantastic for the players to go to win and get to the first ever finals.” 

No Irish men’s side has ever reached a major tournament at this level and the visitors know that they can go for broke thanks to the 1-1 draw between Sweden and the Azzurri in Helsingborg last week that guaranteed them the minimum of second place and a playoff to boot.

Midfielder Conor Coventry has already insisted that this safety valve will allow Ireland take to the field without any pressure on their shoulders. The expectation is on Italy, he announced, and he is right about that.

The Italians have qualified for 13 of the 15 tournaments and won five of them. The side that drew with Sweden had seven players who have featured in over 150 Serie A games between them last season. Crawford hailed them as the best side in the group “by a distance”.

Thing is, they were held twice by the Scandinavians, and by Montenegro, with the latter and Bosnia and Herzegovina also limiting them to 1-0 wins. A last-minute strike in Tallaght gave them a 2-0 win over Ireland last November.

“If you look at those games you mentioned, they create so many opportunities,” said Crawford, “and I’m sure that when the final whistle goes in those games where they dropped points the manager is asking questions about how they didn’t win it.” 

Facing them here is an Irish side that has kept clean sheets in three of its last four games. Two of those were in momentum-shifting wins against the Swedes while follow-up defeats of the Bosnians and Montenegrins have offered them this chance at making history.

The weather may be a factor. Temperatures of up to 30 degrees are expected and it may be that Ireland have to press with more economy than has been the case while the trip to Ascoli already involved a tiring three-hour bus journey from Rome.

There are excuses there if they want to reach for them but this is a group that could have called it quits after that loss to Italy late last year that, added to an earlier defeat to Montenegro and draw away to Luxembourg, left them with zero room for manoeuvre.

Their response has been outstanding and this, let’s not forget, is an U21 crew playing without up to ten players still eligible but already promoted to senior honours with Crawford all but declaring that none of those will be called on should they need to take the playoff route.

“What it does show is there is a real strength and depth at this age group. I don’t know if there are many teams in Europe that could promote 10 players to the senior team and get such a fantastic result against Scotland, where you see Michael Obafemi scoring and setting up Troy Parrott.” 

The future looks good, but this is all about the here and now.