October’s International Round Up: Part Two
Whether Shane Duffy and Aaron Connolly are lacing up their boots for the Republic of Ireland at Euro 2020 won’t be known until the Boys in Green face Denmark in a pivotal final qualifier next month.
Mick McCarthy’s side were on the end of a 2-0 defeat to Switzerland on Tuesday night. The result moved the Swiss onto 11 points in Group D, one behind Ireland and Denmark. Both Switzerland and Denmark have a game in hand in what is proving to a ridiculously tight race for qualification.
Connolly was handed his senior debut in Geneva three days after making his first appearance against Georgia, becoming the youngest player to start for Ireland since Robbie Keane 21 years ago.
The 19-year-old was also trending in number one spot on Twitter in the run up to kick off as Connollymania shows no signs of abating.
One of Graham Potter’s biggest tasks over the course of the next month will be trying to keep expectations about Connolly in check, especially as Brighton fans don’t have a good track record when it comes to not over-hyping young players (see future England internationals Jake Robinson and Joe Gatting).
Connolly’s performance against Switzerland was a reminder that he’s still only a teenager with three substitute appearances and one Premier League start under his belt.
While he worked hard up top, chances were had to come by – which was surprising as it was actually a really entertaining game.
Connolly had two moments of note, one in each half. The first came when he did well to deliver a low cross but there was nobody in the box to take advantage. The second was when he went down in the area in the second half under a firm but fair challenge.
It wasn’t such a good night for Duffy. He was nutmegged in the buildup to Switzerland’s 16th minute opener scored by Haris Seferovic, helped to deflect Edimilson Fernandes shot past Darren Randolph for the second goal late on and picked up a booking which means he is suspended for that crucial meeting with Denmark.
Earlier in the day nearly 10,000 miles away in Kaohsiung, Maty Ryan and Aaron Mooy were in action for Australia in their 5-1 victory against Chinese Taipei.
It was a proud occasion for Ryan as he captained the Socceroos for the first time, becoming the 62nd man to lead out the nation in the process.
He couldn’t mark it with a clean sheet however, being beaten by Chen Yi-Wei’s bullet header with 21 minutes on the clock. That was part of a ridiculous first half in which five of the game’s six goals occurred.
Adam Taggart scored twice inside the opening 19 minutes for Australia before Wei’s consolation arrived. Mooy played a part in Australia’s third, producing a delicious cross field ball to Rhyan Grant whose centre was smashed home by Jackson Irvine.
Irvine made it 4-1 with 36 minutes gone and Jamie Maclaren rounded off the scoring in the second half. The result leaves Australia comfortably on top of Group B with three victories in as many matches ahead of what is probably their toughest test of this stage of qualifying next month when they go to Jordan – the country as opposed to Katie Price.
