Euro u21 qualifier preview: Republic of Ireland -v- Italy

Tallaght Stadium

Tallaght Stadium Credit: Peter Fitzpatrick (ETPhotos)

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND U21

The Republic of Ireland face Italy in a 5.30pm kick off in Tallaght Stadium.

The Boys in Green welcome back talented Southampton midfielder Will Smallbone into the fold after a ten-month injury lay off. Smallbone has made a dozen Premier League appearances for the Saints, but has only appeared once for the Ireland under-21 side, which was also against Italy. 

The under-21 staff are delighted to have him back. “I think he showed his character, his resilience to work through it and he’s back to a really good level of football fitness now,” said Jim Crawford. 

“He’s played three and a half games so far. He’s up to a nice level of competitive minutes in his legs so it’ll be great to have him on board again.”

Ryan Johansson withdrew from the squad due to an injury sustained playing for his club Fortuna Sittard, with former Drogheda United midfielder and current Barnsley player William Hondemarck was called up instead.

Gavin Kilkenny remains with the under-21 side despite several impressive performances with Championship table-toppers Bournemouth. He is expected to partner skipper Conor Coventry at the back of Ireland’s midfield. 

The centre-back pairing is expected to remain the same, with Mark McGuinness (Cardiff City) and Jake O’Brien (Crystal Palace) most likely to take those positions. 

Lee O’Connor will continue to add to his glut of underage caps at right back, while Joel Bagan will more than likely take the opposite flank. 

Bray Wanderers’ Brian Maher will once again be the netminder, despite coming under pressure from Drogheda United’s shot stopper David Odumosu.



The front three is a little harder to predict. The number nine position has been rotated through JJ Kayode and Evan Ferguson, however UCD’s Colm Whelan continues to impress. 

Tyreik Wright will offer pace down the left but Armstrong Oko-Flex who has been called into the squad for the first time could find himself in the starting XI.

“Armstrong (Oko-Flex) is an exciting talent. I’ve seen him a number of times albeit with the West Ham under-23s. I think he’s been performing very well, scoring goals,” said Crawford.

“I’ve seen him play wide left, but I know he can play on either side. He can also play through the middle as well, so he’s somebody that we’ve had an eye on for a long time. I think it’s a great opportunity for him to come in and express himself and show everybody what he can do, definitely looking forward to working with him.”

Ireland are three points behind Italy after playing the same number of games. Sweden are four points clear of Ireland, having played a game more.

ITALY U21



Italy will be without star player Sandro Tonali as he has been called up into the senior Italian squad. However, they will still be a strong test for Ireland. 

The AC Milan midfielder was describing as impossible to replace by their head coach Paolo Nicolato.

Nicolato, spent most of his career coaching at Chievo before progressing into the national sides. He progressed through the under 18, 19 and 20 sides before stepping up to the under 21s.

Speaking to Football Italia Nicolato said,” We have a clear idea of the way Ireland play. They are a competitive squad, with great intensity, capable of playing rough and that’s clearly not our preference, we like to play with more quality, but I’m not sure we’ll be able to in this situation.

“It’s more of a delicate fixture for Ireland than for us. If they don’t get a positive result, then that’s probably it for their qualification hopes. I expect the kind of determination that will cause us problems.”

In their first four games of this qualifying, the Azzurini have won three, beating Montenegro, Luxembourg and Bosnia & Herzegovina. A last-minute Tim Prica equaliser earned Sweden a 1-1 draw in Italy, whose perfect start was ended. 

Pisa centre-forward Lorenzo Lucca is expected to the lead line. He’s got six goals in 11 league games in Serie B. Pietro Pellegri has not yet made his debut for the under21s but is highly rated. He was once the youngest player to play in Serie A, playing for Genoa at 15 years old. He’s currently on loan at AC Milan from AS Monaco.

Italy hopes to add to their record of qualifying 13 times since a final tournament was introduced in 1994; they have lifted a joint-record five titles with Spain.

MATCH STATS

The two sides have clashed at this level six times. Italy were victorious on three occasions, with two matches ending in draws. Ireland have only won once.

The most recent meeting was a 2-0 defeat for Ireland, Riccardo Sottil and Patrick Cutrone scoring the goals.

Their last meeting in Tallaght was a 0-0 draw in the Stephen Kenny reign. Both Moise Kean and Troy Parrott were both shown red cards.

PREDICTION

Republic of Ireland 0-2 Italy

Republic of Ireland

Injured: None

Doubtful: None

Suspended: None

Italy

Injured: Ricardo Calafiori, Destiny Udogie

Doubtful: None

Suspended: None

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