Portugal preview: There's always the Euros on the horizon as realities of November winter bite
EURO VISION: Conrad Kirkwood, IFA President; Mike Mulraney, SFA President; Debbie Hewitt, UK&I Board Chair; Aleksander Ceferin, UEFA President; Paul Cooke, FAI President and Noel Mooney, FAW Chief Executive during the UEFA EURO 2028 launch at Below The Lights, Piccadilly Circus, London. Pic: James Manning/PA Wire.
It’s just as well we’ll be talking up another tournament immediately if Ireland’s latest failure arrives this week.
World Cup qualification remains, technically at least, possible by completing what Heimir Hallgrímsson described as a miracle after losing to Armenia, but the only grounds for optimism this week is blind hope.
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Cristiano Ronaldo seemed to take satisfaction from whipping up a trash-talk frenzy against the Ireland manager on the eve of Portugal’s visit to Lansdowne Road.
He can prod jabs from a position of authority, world records of caps (225) and goals (143) in hand, knowing his talk will be backed up.
Ireland in Lisbon last month was the only qualifier of the four so far he hadn’t scored in.
Simultaneously on Wednesday night the great and good of the FAI and Irish Government were being pictured in London’s Leicester Square alongside the European Championship trophy.
As co-hosts, now staging seven games at Lansdowne Road due to Casement Park running out of time, Irish football is turning its attention to putting on a show in 2028.
The month-long extravaganza is the third biggest sporting event across the globe, after the World Cup and Olympics.
And the FAI haven’t been slow to inform us how easy it is for Ireland to be participants on the pitch too.
Covid-19 restrictions for the delayed Euro 2020 tournament at least prevented a scenario whereby Ireland were absent guests from their own party.
A top-two finish after the Belfast-hosted draw will guarantee qualification for eight of the second-placed teams across the 12 groups, with the other four entering the playoffs.
What’s known for certain is that two of the 24 spots at the tournament are reserved for the co-hosts.
Nobody anticipates anything other than England continuing their steamroll through groups, leaving Ireland, Scotland and Wales vying for the other two tickets.
Should either Scotland or Wales qualify on the pitch, Ireland will be involved regardless of how they fare across the qualifiers.
It all sounds laborious but should, as expected, the miracle fall short against the Portuguese and Hungarians on Sunday, marketing wheezes will be at pains to talk up a fallow year of 2026 as the bridge to a brighter future around the corner.
Even if the tournament drought, already stretching back nine years, is ended only by the frills of staging matches.
That narrative has begun to be peddled and will intensify if the latest of Ireland’s third-placed group finishes is confirmed either tonight at 10pm or Sunday evening.
Granted, Ireland are part of a seriously difficult group.
Only three teams across the 12 qualifying groups have amassed full points – Spain, England and Norway.
Behind the Spanish in the table are Turkey, while the nearest nation to England is Albania.
But for a late Dominik Szoboszlai equaliser in Lisbon last month, Portugal would be in that company with 12 points from four matches.
Given too that Hungary have been part of the last Euro finals and dominated Ireland in Dublin until Roland Sallai’s red card the calibre of rival is unquestionable.
What is worthy of questioning is Ireland’s fallibility in losing to the bottom seeds, Armenia, in their second game.
It’s been a case of playing catch-up since.
An improvement was apparent in Portugal, albeit without anything to show at the finish.
Building on that against Armenia wasn’t straightforward, for the pace was pedestrian in the first half before an anxious home crowd.
Evan Ferguson’s third goal of the campaign, against the 10 men, registered a first win at the fourth attempt.
Now Ireland require at least one against the top two seeds. Portugal, in fifth, are 57 places ahead of Fifa’s rankings. Just the 25 to Hungary.
Hallgrímsson has implored the media to adopt a glass-half-full attitude, adamant more belief exists across the fanbase than within the fourth estate.
But there are few positive portents.
Ferguson is crocked. The purveyor of set-pieces Ireland relies on, Robbie Brady, is also sidelined, while even the attributes of Jayon Molumby in winding up the 40-year-old star glitzy guest will be missed through his suspension.
Germany a decade ago is the chief memory to cling onto for motivation.
Yet that win was engineered with a team that included John O’Shea, Brady, Wes Hoolohan and Jon Walters. Robbie Keane and Kevin Doyle were unused subs.
On the off-chance Armenia arise from their slumber to repeat the number they did on Ireland against the Magyars in the 5pm, then, again technically, the Irish could afford to lose against the Portuguese. But still they’d have to conquer Hungary in their backyard.
Permutations will, however, recede across the day.
No time to dwell though as the cold realities of November winter bite.
There’s always the Euros on the horizon – but not before another farrago of a managerial hunt to entertain or frustrate us in the meantime.
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