Stephen Kenny wants Ireland to secure six points from this week's double header against Greece and Gibraltar, as the Ireland manager clung onto the very slight chance that his side would have something to play for in November.
The manager admitted that it was a very slim chance of qualifying automatically for Euro 2024, however, the mathematics still say that Ireland remain alive in the group, and Kenny admitted that his team would be kicking themselves if they missed out on an opportunity to go to Amsterdam looking for a historic victory in November.
And with Greece in town for the first of the two games in this international window, it also gives the Irish side a chance to right the wrongs of Athens where they didn't really show up for the end of season international, losing 2-1 to Gus Poyet’s side in June.
"It's not in our own hands, we are relying on results elsewhere," said Kenny, speaking at the pre-match press conference.
Stephen Kenny says six points from Greece and Gibraltar fixtures are vital as there is still a mathematical hope of automatic qualification for Euro 2024 pic.twitter.com/8GA7Isyl3w
— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) October 12, 2023
"We want to finish the group strongly, we are still in contention for automatic qualification, we have to see if we can take it to the November window and the only way we can do that is by taking six points from this window.
"It may not be enough, but we'd be kicking ourselves if we didn't do that and results did happen elsewhere."
The manager would not be drawn on Keith Andrews’ earlier assertions that Greece may have had some Irish input into their preparations for that game in Athens, however, he did confirm that no information was leaked from within the Ireland camp.
In fact, the manager appeared quite relaxed about it all by joking, "yeah, I had (former Greece captain) Theo Zagorakis in the hotel in Castleknock earlier. He's coming down and we'll see how he is.
"It's all quite possible," added Kenny. But as I say, nobody that was around our camp.
"But listen, I'm not getting hung up on that and certainly we're just focused on preparing the team for the game on Friday."
The manager accepted that the team did not perform in the away game but he is convinced that irrespective of what is going on in the group, the players will be motivated to put on the jersey and secure the victory.
"We didn't play well on the day against Greece," said Kenny. "I don't think it was necessarily tactical. It was not a good performance. We came out the wrong side of a tight game.
"Every international game is significant, they're all important, I think the players, we want to win our home games, we want to win the game against Greece," added Kenny.
"I know the players are very determined to put in a strong performance and get that victory that we need.
"It’s a huge honour just to put on the green shirt and to represent your country, especially in a qualifier. The reality is, although it’s an outside chance, mathematically we still have a chance.
"As long as that is the case, we must give everything of ourselves all the time. That’s not in question. I think they will be hugely motivated, the players, to try and fulfil their potential in this game."
Looking ahead to the game Kenny believes that the team are in much better shape heading into it, especially with a fully fit Evan Ferguson back in contention to start, and while late call up, Sammie Szmodics, has left the squad for family reasons, the manager has a fully fit squad to choose from for the Greece encounter.
"Some players are in a different place, they found a rhythm of games, like Chiedozie Ogbene for example, coming in after playing three Premier League games recently," said Kenny.
"He's in a better place even than he was last month when he hadn't really played [much)] for Luton."
"A criticism in the Holland game was we didn't create enough chances late on," added Kenny.
"Obviously we have more attacking options back; Evan Ferguson, Mikey Johnston, Callum Robinson are back. I know they are not playing much at club level but they are available again, and none of them were available in the last camp."
Watch Republic of Ireland v Greece in Euro 2024 qualifying on Friday from 7pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on RTÉ.ie/Sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to live radio commentary on 2fm's Game On
