EURO 2024 QUALIFYING GROUP B
Republic of Ireland v Greece, Aviva Stadium, Friday, 7.45pm.
TV
Live coverage on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player from 7pm.
RADIO
Live commentary on RTÉ 2fm's Game On.
ONLINE
Live blog on RTÉ.ie/Sport and the RTÉ News app.
WEATHER
Cloudy and wet at first on Friday with further outbreaks of rain. The rain will clear during the morning and sunny spells will develop. The rest of the day will be dry apart from a few isolated showers. Top temperatures of 12 to 14 Celsius, but feeling cooler as northwest winds increase moderate, occasionally fresh and gusty. For more, visit met.ie.
MATHEMATICALLY STILL ALIVE – BUT REALISTICALLY DOOMED
Here's the basic information, despite losing four of their five games in qualifying to date Stephen Kenny’s side can still finish in the top two to book their ticket to Euro 2024 in Germany.
If that has raised your hopes, then this should deflate them.
Essentially, Ireland need to beat Greece, Gibraltar and win in the Netherlands, hope Greece also beat Ronald Koeman’s side but lose in Dublin and to France as well as seeing the Oranje lose to Ireland, France and Greece. We’ll make the fair assumption that the Netherlands will be too good for Gibraltar.
If those unlikely results were to come to pass, Ireland, Greece and the Netherlands would all be on 12 points in a race for second with games between the three teams proving decisive in the first instance. Kenny’s men have lost to both on a 2-1 scoreline, so goals are required.
A play-off spot is still possible through Nations League rankings, but it's as clear as mud.
Six points then from the window of Greece and Gibraltar is a necessity anyway.
"It may not be enough, but we'd be kicking ourselves if we didn't do that and results did happen elsewhere," Kenny said ahead of the Greece game.
A GREEK TROJAN HORSE
After back-to-back September losses to France and the Netherlands, enthusiasm for this fixture has dipped with Kenny’s future looking increasingly shaky.
However, kudos to Irish assistant manager Keith Andrews for bring some drama by suggesting that Greece boss Gus Poyet found a way to infiltrate the Irish preparations ahead of their win in Athens – and it was only Irish coaches hiding inside that Trojan horse.
Greece were 2-1 winners in June’s tetchy affair, and Andrews hinted that "Irish staff from clubs around England" had possibly assisted in the host's pre-game preparations.
"Gus has a thing where invites certain people in to watch training. Pre Athens, I am sure that assisted his preparations.
"He is quite cute, very experienced in his preparation. He said certain things post game, where he alluded to, he has done his homework..."
Kenny wouldn’t be drawn on the claims too much, making light of the situation, but did say that any information squeezed out of Ireland sources certainly didn’t come from within the camp.
I had (former Greece captain) Theo Zagorakis in the hotel in Castleknock earlier. He's coming down and we'll see how he is," he joked.
"It's all quite possible. But as I say, nobody that was around our camp."
FERGUSON SET TO LEAD THE LINE
After a blistering start to the Premier League season with four goals in four games for Brighton, Evan Ferguson has hit a minor rough patch.
A knee injury ruled him out of the losses to France and the Netherlands while illness saw him miss some game-time for the Seagulls too. He hasn't scored in the league since his stunning hat-trick against Newcastle.
He started in Sunday’s entertaining 2-2 Premier League draw with Liverpool though and now fully fit, he said he is determined to make up for lost time on the international stage.
"It was such a big window, and I was looking forward to playing the two games," Ferguson said of missing the French and Netherlands games.
"The injury held me back and I couldn’t do anything. I just went back to get into rehab and tried to get myself fit.
"I watched the two games, two good performances, and I'm looking forward to the two games we have now."
While this game isn’t raising temperatures in Irish circles, it does come on the week that Ireland and the UK were confirmed as hosts for Euro 2028.
The number of host entry cards has to be determined yet, but allow yourself a little daydream of Ferguson leading the line as a 23-year-old for Ireland at the Aviva Stadium.
While Ferguson returns for Greece, John Egan, Aaron Connolly, Callum O'Dowda and goalkeeper Caoimhín Kelleher miss out through injury. In-form Blackburn player Sammie Szmodics was a late addition to the squad, but he had to later withdraw due to personal reasons.
GREECE LOOKING TO SET UP HUGE CLASH
Greece are already guaranteed a play-off spot on account of their strong performance in the 2022/23 Nations League (they won Group C2) but automatic qualification remains within their reach.
Poyet’s side have three games remaining – Ireland (a), the Netherlands (h) and France (h). It’s a pretty daunting finale but given that they are level on points with the Netherlands, albeit having played a game more, they have a real opportunity to shock.
A win in Dublin then is pretty much essential to tee up what would be a massive match with the Netherlands on Monday at the OPAP Arena.
Callum Robinson will not be the only Cardiff City player on show with defender Dimitris Goutas called in by Poyet on Wednesday and he could be in line to earn his fourth cap.
Greece have won three of their five games to date with their losses a credible 1-0 defeat to France in Paris and a more one-sided 3-0 loss to the Netherlands in Eindhoven.
The French result was grating as Kylian Mbappe had missed his first penalty, but he was awarded a retake as some Greek players had entered the box before he struck the ball and he made no mistake second time around.
Konstantinos Mavropanos conceded the penalty and was later sent off after picking up a second yellow card for for bringing down Randal Kolo Muani.
Georgios Masouras, who scored the winner against Ireland in June, has found the net in all three of their victories, and has four goals in all – level with Mbappe, Erling Haaland, Bruno Fernandes and Bukayo Saka in the top scorer table in qualifying. Not bad company.
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
