Although Ireland lost 0-1 to France at the Aviva stadium in Dublin on Monday evening, national coach Stephen Kenny and his men have full confidence in that qualifying game. Not least because the Irish managed to keep superstar Kylian Mbappé in check for more than fifty thousand passionate fans – unlike the Dutch three days earlier.
“I have never seen Mbappé have such little influence”
According to national coach Kenny, Ireland was able to keep the Parisian superstar quiet because of a meticulous analysis. “We’ve watched France’s last 20 games and I’ve never seen Kylian Mbappé, who I voted for as the best player in the world, have so little impact,” Kenny told the Irish Examiner. “It’s so disappointing that it didn’t earn us a point.” France won in Dublin because Bayern Munich defender Benjamin Pavard scored the only goal of the game.
Despite the defeat, the game against the vice world champions has given the Irish a boost according to Nathan Collins, who himself saw a sure-looking goal miraculously turned by Mike Maignan. “I looked back at the moment and it’s worse than I thought. It’s unbelievable. But it gives us a very good feeling and a lot of confidence that we can play at this level and put the opponent in trouble,” says the 21-year-old defender, who is under contract with Wolverhampton Wanderers. He also broadens the trust issue for the remainder of the qualification for EURO 2024. “We have now set the standard ourselves. It’s up to us, no one else, just us,” continues the youngster, who started for the eleventh time in a row with Ireland.
Chiedozie Ogbene was voted Man of the Match
Collins is referring to the upcoming qualifying matches with Greece and Gibraltar in June: “I think you’ve seen it so many times against the big teams, where we put in performances and people are a little bit shocked at how well we’re doing and how we hurt teams like that. But again, it’s not just the big teams that we have to perform against. We also have to reach that level against the so-called ‘smaller countries’.”
Chiedozie Ogbene was voted Man of the Match in Dublin. While facing a world-class defender with AC Milan left-back Theo Hernández. The right winger of Rotherham United could not enjoy that because of the minor defeat. He did so from the impressions he received from the French. He mentioned, “I looked into the eyes of their defenders. And I think I could see a little bit of doubt as we kept putting pressure on them. That gives us – despite the disappointment of the defeat – an enormous boost.”
On September 10, the Netherlands will travel to Ireland for the first meeting between the two teams. More than two months later, Ronald Koeman and associates receive the Irish in the Johan Cruijff Arena.
