Ireland to face mighty Spain in Under-17 Euro quarter-finals

Should Ireland progress, they will meet the winner of holders France and England but they will already be assured a World Cup spot.

LAST EIGHT: Ireland’s Mason Melia celebrates qualifying for the knockout phase with friends and family. Pic Credit ©INPHO/Nikola Kristic

Ireland will face Spain on Saturday in Hungary for a place in the Under-17 Euro semi-finals and the bonus prize of guaranteed participation in the World Cup.

Colin O’Brien’s Irish side secured their spot in the quarter-finals on Tuesday night by seeing out tournament hosts Hungary 4-2, a result which added to their 3-0 victory over Wales on Saturday scotched their 5-1 pasting at the hands of group victors Poland in their opener.

Second place earned a predetermined meeting with the winner of Group A and Spain held the upperhand with six points heading into Wednesday’s final matches.

Serbia, however, almost usurped the nine-times champions when Andrija Maksimovic grabbed the lead with 22 minutes left but Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal, who became the club’s youngest ever first-team debutant when replacing Gavi four weeks ago against Real Betis at the age of 15 years, nine months and 16 days, grabbed a stunning equaliser just shy of the 80th minute.

Ireland have their own couple of promising 15-year-old attackers in Mason Melia and Ike Orazi but O’Brien applauded their composure over the week to recover from a humbling start to their first ever taste of a major tournament.

“The boys stayed calm under pressure when the game got away from us at times,” the Corkman said of the Hungary performance.

“It’s great to see that because it means they’re growing and they’re developing. We’re the youngest squad here. I’m so proud of them because they’re a great bunch of lads, brilliant personalities, great values and the quality is there as well.”

All four quarter-finals will be contested on Saturday around the Budapest area, with venues and kick-off times to be confirmed.

Should Ireland progress, they will meet the winner of holders France against England but already assured of one of the five places allocated to European teams in the World Cup.

That’s to take place between November 10-December 2 in a country yet to be decided by FIFA after Peru were stripped of hosting rights due to ‘infrastructural defects’.