Ireland U19s face qualifier showdown with hosts Belgium

The Republic of Ireland Under 19s meet mini-tournament hosts Belgium in Freethiel, Beveren, on Tuesday night looking to seal their place in the UEFA U19 European Championships Finals.

Tom Mohan’s side began the Elite Phase with an impressive 2-0 win over Italy last Thursday but suffered a disappointing 3-0 loss to Sweden on Saturday. Belgium lead the group with four points.

Should Ireland beat the hosts and Sweden fail to beat the Italians, Mohan’s side will top the group and go forward to the finals in Georgia in July.

While the Irish boss is well aware of the size of the task ahead of his side, he is confident that they can cause an upset and put themselves within a fighting chance of reaching the finals.

“We’ve had a good recovery day. We’ve analysed our own performance against Sweden and to be honest we dominated possession for large periods but just weren’t clinical enough,” said Mohan. 

“We were disappointed with what we conceded against the Swedes but the big thing was to be alive on the last day. Our first result against Italy gave us that chance. 

“We will go into our game against Belgium knowing that we can only look after our own game so whatever happens in the other fixture is out of our control.

“Belgium produce high quality players and we can see that once again they have quality in attack but we believe there are weaknesses there that we can exploit with the quality players in our attack.

“It’ll be a case of two teams looking for a win. There are a lot of permutations and we’ll just have to get on with it. All our players are fit and in good spirits so we’re ready for the challenge.”

RESULTS & FIXTURES
UEFA U19 Championships Elite Qualifying Round Group 7

Thursday, 23 March: Republic of Ireland 2-0 Italy, Hamme (Belgium)
Saturday, 25 March: Sweden 3-0 Republic of Ireland, Freethiel, Beveren (Belgium)
Tuesday, 28 March: Belgium v v Republic of Ireland, Freethiel, Beveren (Belgium), KO 18.00