Oct 12,2024
Heimir Hallgrimsson is expecting his side to be brimming with confidence after their come-from-behind victory over Finland as they take on the group leaders Greece at the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium on Sunday.
Greece, of course, will have similar sureness coming off the back of a fine victory over England, while they have the recent victory in Dublin to also add belief that they can make it four wins from four in this Nations League campaign eyeing promotion to the top tier of European football.
Ireland will garner most of their momentum from the result rather than the actual performance in Helsinki, and conversely they will also take many of the positives from that Dublin defeat in September knowing that they were the better side throughout the opening 45 minutes before getting hit with a sucker punch early in the second half, from which they could not recover.
The two sides have got to know each other very well over the past two years having played three times, and while Greece have won all three, backed up by three clean sheets, Ireland will arrive looking to beat the Mediterranean side for the first time in their history.
Remarkably, Greece have won five of the six meetings between the two countries with the solitary draw coming in a friendly international back in 2002.
"They have been a really tough opponent for Ireland," said Hallgrimsson, following the victory in Helsinki.
"I felt, though, when we played them in Dublin that it was pretty even and it was down to margins. They scored from their chances and we didn’t, that was the difference in my opinion.
"I know they are tough, playing them at home, and them beating England will give them a lot of confidence as well. It was a psychological game for them as well, an emotional game for them, losing George Baldock and of course we send his family all of our respects and good wishes.
"Greece will be a tough opponent, a really tough opponent to play against. But I hope we can build on the good things that we did and bring it with us to Greece. Some tired legs as well so we just to recover as quickly as possible from now and be ready."
Hallgrimsson emphasised the importance of taking the best things from the Finland result, while remaining fully focused on the task at hand on Sunday, while he also expects to see the morale-boosting effect of the victory on the training ground and amongst the squad.
"I hope I feel it now in training and in the next game we will see a difference in them," he said, when asked about the importance of the win for the players following several years of poor results.
"Of course, a win doesn’t put as much pressure on the next game. They’re feeling good and probably a bit relieved that we won the game.
"Again, it’s down to margins. We need to improve on what we are doing. We are still giving away chances. At times we looked open and indecisive in actions. We just need to continue being confident.
"We showed them a lot of good clips from both games and training, what they were doing, and we will have even more clips from this game that we can build on.
"We need to keep on doing what we are doing. We need to improve. It’s not about the result, it’s not about 'we are flying’, it’s about what we are doing, the principles we are trying to implement, that we are always consistent in improving those. Then success will follow."
Looking ahead to the game, Hallgrimsson said that he would have to play the waiting game to see if any players feel the effects of their energetic exertions at the Olympic Stadium, however, he is confident that Mark McGuinness will be fit to feature after going over on his ankle at training on the eve of the Finland game.
Hallgrimsson’s stated intention is to create a core of players and a strong spine throughout the team, which he feels will bring momentum, continuity and a sense of stability to the starting eleven.
So it would make sense that he will look to start as many of the players who featured in the Finland victory, with Festy Ebosele certainly putting his hand up for inclusion from the start following his match-changing cameo appearance off the bench.
"We will take a decision in the next one or two days," said Hallgrimsson. "We will have a recovery session [on Friday] but in Greece we will have a final training.
"I guess everybody wants to play now, will push themselves to play but I’m consistent in what I say. The confidence grows when you know the player next to you.
"He knows exactly how you will react and he will cover whatever decision you make, we just have to make the decisions quicker and execute what we are doing a little bit quicker than we are doing."
