International Friendly Preview: Republic of Ireland -v- Belarus
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REPUBLIC OF IRELAND
The Republic of Ireland entertain Belarus tonight at Turners Cross in Cork, in a game that will be their final preparation ahead of June 13th’s show down with Sweden in Paris.
Off the back of a 1-1 draw with the Netherlands, the ‘Boys in Green’ will be looking to use this game to iron out defensive errors which previously resulted in draws against Slovakia and Holland and go also extend their unbeaten home record to 13.
Martin O’Neill’s 35-man provisional squad will be trimmed down to 23 after the game and will be submitted to UEFA by 11p.m. With a few hours to play with, and a few injuries to contend with, this means that O’Neill may offer a few peripheral squad members final opportunities to impress.
Of major concern to O’Neill tonight, is the absence of captain and all-time leading goal scorer Robbie Keane. Keane is confirmed to be out of tonight’s clash with the Eastern European outfit. And may possibly miss the final tournament which will commence in less than two weeks.
Other injury concerns include Bournemouth midfielder Harry Arter who was awarded Man of the Match after Ireland’s impressive 1-1 draw with the Netherlands last Friday night. James McCarthy is also a doubt as he has failed to completely recover from an injury picked up with his club side Everton.
O’Neill is expected to give some fringe players chances to impress before the squad submission. With McCarthy and Arter unlikely to feature tonight, the likes of Eunan O’Kane, Darren Gibson and David Meyler will be looking to impress and possibly nail down a seat on the plane to France.
Sheffield Wednesdays Kieran Westwood will also be looking for a chance between the sticks following defeat in the play-off final to Hull City. There has been much speculation regarding which three keepers will be selected from the quartet of Darren Randolph, David Forde, Shay Given and Westwood.
BELARUS
Belarus come into this game following a demoralizing 3-0 defeat to Northern Ireland at Windsor Park in Belfast last Friday.
Ranked 71st in the world, Belarus will be looking to build towards their World Cup 2018 qualifying campaign and will also be looking to return to the form which saw them go five games without defeat, before that loss in Belfast.
Alyaksandr Khatskevich’s side have failed to score in four successive games and will be looking to ruin the farewell celebrations in Cork this evening.
MATCH STATS
This is the first senior international meeting between the two sides and is the first time that Ireland have played at Cork since 0-0 draw with Spain at Flower Lodge in 1985.
BETTING
Ireland (8/11) Draw (23/10) Belarus (9/2)
PREDICTION
Republic of Ireland 3-0 Belarus
Republic of Ireland
Injured: Robbie Keane
Doubtful: James McCarthy, Harry Arter, Ciaran Clark.
Suspended: None
Belarus
Injured: Egor Filipenko
Doubtful: Unknown
Suspended: None
