The Irish under-21s head into the first of their two final European Championship qualifying games on Sunday (kick-off 12.30 in Tallaght) confident that they can get the wins required to secure a first ever place in a tournament finals at this level.
With Italy only needing only to beat Luxembourg on Sunday to nail down top spot in the group, Jim Crawford’s side have a slight advantage over Iceland and Sweden in a three-way race to finish second.
Amid so much disruption, the play-offs have been abandoned and so the five best runners-up will progress. Ireland currently lie sixth but beating Iceland should ensure an improvement on that with a win in Luxembourg next Wednesday then required to wrap up the second place aspect of it all.
The situation is complicated somewhat by Armenia’s two remaining games having been cancelled with complete clarity on what is to happen as a result not available but the short version, Zack Elbouzedi points out, is that two wins should do it.
“For sure,” he says, “it’s a six-pointer. There’s nothing else. It’s what we have to do and if we do, we are more than likely going to qualify. There are not a lot of times in a football career when you get the chance to make history so that’s a huge driving factor for us. To be the first Irish team to qualify would be massive.”
Ireland lost to Iceland away but felt hard done by at the time and feel confident they can make amends.
