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Euro 2024: Gibraltar v Ireland all you need to know

Updated / Sunday, 15 Oct 2023 19:26
Ireland are hoping to avoid another embarrassing result
Ireland are hoping to avoid another embarrassing result

EURO 2024 QUALIFIER
Gibraltar v Republic of Ireland, Estadio Algarve, 7.45pm.

TV
Live coverage on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player from 7:00pm.

RADIO
Live commentary on RTÉ 2fm, with coverage starting on Game On from 6pm.

ONLINE
Live match tracker on RTÉ.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app. Updates and match footage on RTÉ Soccer Twitter and RTÉ Sport Facebook.

WEATHER
The forecast is for warm and dry conditions come kick-off time in Faro. There's a possibility of light showers earlier in the day which should help the playing surface but with clear skies and a high of 24c come game time, conditions look to be ideal.

HAVE IRELAND HIT 'ROCK BOTTOM’?
Friday evening’s defeat to Greece at the Aviva Stadium did not come as a surprise.

The 2-0 reversal ended the tiny sliver of hope that the Boys in Green had of booking a Euro 2024 spot through the qualifiers and the most damning thing was that it was an entirely expected result.

When the final whistle went at the Aviva, it wasn’t to a big chorus of boos, more an apathetic shrug of the shoulders from the few hardy souls that had managed to stick around until the bitter end.

Defeat took Stephen Kenny’s record in competitive games to five wins from 27. Those looking for a silver lining can console themselves with the fact Gibraltar were one of the five teams Ireland have managed to beat. Azerbaijan, Luxembourg, Scotland and Armenia are the others – not exactly the top tier of world football.

RTÉ analyst Didi Hamann described Friday's performance as 'rock bottom’, with the implication being that things couldn’t possibly get worse. However, such is the mood surrounding the Irish camp, that it’s hard to shake the feeling that may not be true.

Anything other than a win against Gibraltar should be unthinkable but with five defeats from their six qualifying games, it’s difficult to have faith in this Irish team and the game is very much a battle to see who will finish bottom of Group B.

GIBRALTAR TARGET A RARE RESULT FROM ‘CUP FINAL’
Ireland sit three points above Gibraltar at the basement in Group B courtesy of June’s 3-0 victory at the Aviva Stadium.

After a frustrating and fruitless first-half, it took the half-time introduction of Mikey Johnston to turn things in Ireland’s favour but there was enough in the Gibraltar performance to give Kenny pause for thought in Faro.

Gibraltar have lost their last seven matches across all competitions, conceding 22 goals and have yet to score a goal this year but the fear is that Ireland are so devoid of inspiration at the moment that they could be the side to hand the minnows a first qualifying point.

Gibraltar manager Julior Rebas knows that Ireland are vulnerable at the moment and he admitted that his side are approach the game like a ‘cup final’ as they aim to take, what would be for them, a major scalp.

"Ireland are a very good team with a good coaching staff behind them and I don’t believe in teams going through, so to speak, bad moments because they are always one result away from turning it around," Ribas said.

"We have a huge amount of respect as a team and and as a nation. But for us, as with any game we go into, it’s a final for us. We take it one game at a time as we look for that result as we did, and we have achieved in the past and we hope one day sooner or later, we get another one, a result on that level.

"The players need to prepare themselves to think that way and we will see if the result will come. I am not going to sit here and predict the future, we have to prepare for the game and that’s 100% what we are thinking about."

KENNY LOOKING TO SALVAGE SOMETHING FROM A BAD WEEK

Despite the absence of results, there have been some positives from Kenny's reign thus far, not least the large number of new players brought into the international fold under his watch.

The manager's contract expires at the end of this qualifying campaign, leaving him with the Gibraltar game, a final qualifying away to the Netherlands and a friendly at home to New Zealand.

Kenny had hoped to bring Blackburn's Andrew Moran into the squad for the clash with Portugal but an ankle injury suffered for the Irish U21s against Latvia scuppered that call-up.

For all the negativity that surrounds the Ireland camp and the major question marks hanging over his future, the Ireland manager is still eager to try to end the international break with a positive result and he's confident that his squad are capable of ending the campaign on a high.

"In this camp it was important to try and win against Greece, we haven't managed to do that, I understand that, that it's not a good result for us," he said. "But from my point of view I am contracted to the end of the campaign so I just want to finish strong, finish the campaign strong.

"If there is a play-off we can assess that, but finish the campaign strong and take it from there. We are motivated to do that, finish the campaign strong.

"We all have to get results, we understand that. I came into this weekend, this camp, thinking if we can get six points, we possibly have a chance to take it to Amsterdam, going into the last game. We are hugely disappointed, no doubt, to lose the game.

"What we have to do now is to perform tomorrow and win the game, that's what we have to do. And take that into November. We are unsure of the play-offs, we couldn't rely on it, for sure. We just have to control what we can, and that's to win tomorrow against Gibraltar."

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