Credit: Steve Alfred (ETPhotos)
Ireland U19s face Germany in UEFA group decider
- Extratime Team
- Mon, Oct 10 2016
THE Republic of Ireland U19 side will look to complete the Qualifying Round stage of the UEFA U19 Championships with a perfect record when they face Germany in Durres, Albania, tomorrow (1.00pm Irish).
Tom Mohan's side has already secured its place in the Elite Phase following a 1-0 win over the Albanians and a 5-0 victory against Gibraltar. The Germans also beat Gibraltar 5-0 and won 3-2 against Albania to tomorrow's game will decide the Group Four winners.
The Elite Phase will take place in March with the seven group winners joining Georgia in the final tournament from 2 to 15 July 2017.
These two groups of players met in a U18 friendly in Rüsselsheim am Main in May and played out an exciting 2-2 draw with Birmingham City striker Ronan Hale scoring twice. 11 of the Irish players who featured in that friendly are with the squad this week.
“All of the players are feeling good and are fresh after our first two games. We're all looking forward to it," said Mohan.
"It's good to go into the final game will everybody available. Germany are very good team and are an excellent possession-based side with very good movement ahead of the ball and they have creative individuals so there's no doubt they'll be a tough challenge.
"You know what you expect when you play Germany but most of our boys played against them in the friendly in May and will take confidence from that performance.
“It's good that we've kept clean sheets in our games so far as you’ve got to be solid defensively when you play Germany. We can only judge both sides on what they’ve produced here. We’ll be well-organised but we want to show our attacking threat too and we have players in this squad that can trouble Germany."
RESULTS & FIXTURES
UEFA U19 Championships Qualifying Round Group Four
Thursday, October 6
Albania 0-1 Republic of Ireland, Selman Stermazi, Tirana (ALB)
Germany 5-0 Gibraltar, Niko Dovana, Durres (ALB)
Saturday, October 8
Republic of Ireland 5-0 Gibraltar, Niko Dovana, Durres (ALB)
Germany 3-2 Albania, Selman Stermazi, Tirana (ALB)
Tuesday, October 11
Republic of Ireland v Germany, Niko Dovana, Durres (ALB) (1.00pm Irish)
Gibraltar v Albania, Selman Stermazi, Tirana (ALB) (1.00pm Irish)
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