Under-21 Friendly Preview: Rep of Ireland v Iceland

Republic of Ireland

Jim Crawford and his side are looking to the future as they welcome Iceland in a friendly at Turners Cross on Sunday. He will be working with an entirely new squad to the one who had the disappointment of losing in a play-off against Israel. The home side will be looking to build ahead of the start of the qualifying for Euro 2025. Despite the absences of the likes of Gavin Bazunu, Nathan Collins, and Troy Parrott, the squad includes a number of big names who will be looking to stake their claims ahead of the qualifying September. It has yet to be announced where the home games will be held, but Turners Cross could well be given the nod.  

Crawford was looking forward to the game on the FAI social media channels, saying “It’s a great opportunity for these players to go out and show what they’re capable of against a very good Iceland side. It’s been six months since we were last together and I’m looking forward to meeting up with the players and staff again. We want to bring our fans on a journey and that starts against Iceland and I’ve no doubt the Cork public will get behind us all the way.” 

He also joined the voices calling out online abuse targeted at the under-15 squad stating “It comes from a minority, it comes from uneducated people, and it comes from social media platforms where people can disguise their names, their identity. The unfortunate thing is that they have a platform”.

Iceland

Like their hosts, Iceland also fell at the play-off stage last time out. They lost 2-1 at home to Czechia that they were unable to recover from despite a draw in the away leg. With a squad containing a number of home based players, they nevertheless have punched above their weight at this level. They have twice qualified for the European Championships in 2011 and 2021. They will be looking to make it a hat-trick as they prepare for their resumption of qualifiers in September. 

Referee: Jamie Robinson (Northern Ireland)

MATCH STATS

Both sides met each other in the qualifying group for the 2021 European Championships. Iceland won home and away with an aggregate of 3-1 as they went on to qualify for their second tournament. Ireland did win the most recent friendly between the nations as a goal from Rory Hale after 14 seconds put the home side on route to a 3-1 win at Tallaght.  

PREDICTION

Republic of Ireland 2-1 Iceland

Republic of Ireland

Injured: N/A

Doubtful: N/A

Suspended: N/A

Iceland

Injured: N/A

Doubtful: N/A 

Suspended: N/A