Oct 13,2024
Finn Azaz will ignore the outside noise as he attempts to make his way in international football.
The 24-year-old Middlesbrough midfielder was handed a first competitive start for Republic of Ireland in Finland on Thursday evening and played his part in a rousing fightback which saw Heimir Hallgrimsson's side overturn a 1-0 deficit to secure a 2-1 Nations League win in Helsinki.
Victory went some of the way towards silencing critics who had voiced disquiet after last month’s home defeats by England and Greece in Hallgrimsson’s first two fixtures at the helm, after which he admitted that some of his players were finding the green shirt a "heavy" one to wear.
However, Azaz said: "I am going out there to do my job, that’s what I am trained to do, so I try to ignore the outside noise, we all try to do that. That’s how you have to be.
"We do hear criticism but that’s part of the job. You need a strong mentality to ignore the noise and hopefully this win will help us gain even more confidence. We have a lot of belief."
Even in Helsinki, there was a smattering of boos from the travelling fans among a sparse crowd of 16,105 when the half-time whistle sounded, with the visitors trailing 1-0 after Joel Pohjanpalo had pounced upon skipper Nathan Collins’ weak back-pass.
Azaz said: "I didn’t hear any boos at half-time. It was a tough game and a tough first half, but you need to show respect to the opposition.
"We are a good team. I felt we could push on at half-time and that’s what we tried to do in the second half.
"With Nathan, mistakes happen and we are ready for that. We didn’t need to say anything to him, he’s an experienced player. We just focused on the positives and had that positive energy for the second half."
That positive energy ultimately proved decisive when defender Liam Scales headed his side level before Robbie Brady snatched the points with an 88th-minute winner.
Ireland will now head for Athens to face Greece, who backed up their 2-0 win in Dublin last month with a 2-1 victory over England at Wembley on Thursday night.
Azaz said: "We will look at the Finland game and build on the positives. We have real belief – and we should have real belief – that we can go there and not feel like an underdog.
"We have a lot of confidence in the squad, it’s just bringing that out on to the pitch, and that’s what we’ll do on Sunday."
