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Incredibly disappointing first set of World Cup Qualifiers for the Republic of Ireland with poor results against Serbia, Luxembourg and Qatar.
We're back with another review and unfortunately this won't be as positive as the previous one as we focus on the recent results of the Republic of Ireland Men's side. We previously touched on Kenny's limited goalkeeper options and to be honest it may have cost us a point against Serbia. Mark Travers was given his chance between the sticks in the opener and was found in no mans land for Mitrovic's lob. We think highly of Travers though and we don't agree with the recent abuse, however, he can definitely learn from this experience. Bazunu was the chosen man for the clashes against Luxembourg and Qatar and he really showcased his talent. In our opinion, a man of the match award against Luxembourg wouldn't have been a bad shout!
Let's touch on the Serbia game in some more detail. The match ended up being a bit of a goal fest at 3-2 which is the last thing I was expecting. We knew before the fixture that Serbia away was going to be an incredibly difficult match, however, there seemed to be a severe lack of quality in the Irish side. Alan Browne kicked us off in style with an impressive header but after Serbia's three goals, it didn't look like we'd get a result even with Collin's late finish. A positive was that goals were scored but unfortunately it was a more negative fuelled affair.
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Next up was the 'must win' match against Luxembourg at the Aviva. Looking at the FIFA World Rankings pre-game and seeing they sat at 98th gave us great confidence going into it. Embarrassing is the only world we can use to describe the game. Rodrigues' late goal at the Aviva meant Kenny's run with Ireland remained winless leaving the result at 0-1. Should we trust Kenny's 3-5-2 formation? We're not sure if we have the quality to be playing his possession based tactics. Clark showed little promise on the ball in defence with Doherty simply not performing to the level he should be. Coleman along with the inexperienced Bazunu were the only players to show some class on the night with Collins coming close with a bicycle kick. Frustration building and confidence being lost is what's happening to the fans of Ireland.
The boys in green then travelled to Hungary to play a friendly against Qatar which saw the sides finish level at 1-1. An early goal for James McClean from a well trained set-piece saw morale boost within the team. A penalty shout overruled kept Ireland in the lead until Muntari struck level early in the second half. Another set of impressive performances from Bazunu and Coleman wasn't enough to take the win.
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It is an extremely worrying time for the Republic of Ireland and Stephen Kenny and we really hope luck starts working in his favour in the next games. We'll still back him though and we wish the side good luck in their club games and next games with the boys in green. Stay tuned for more content in the next few days!
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