Soccer

Sweden v Ireland: Eileen Gleeson faces selection headache as squad struggles against top-ranked sides

Manager reporting fully fit squad available for Tuesday’s game, including Katie McCabe, who had hamstring problem in Thursday’s 3-0 defeat to Sweden

Izzy Atkinson at Republic of Ireland squad training at Friends Arena, Stockholm, on Monday. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho
Mary Hannigan
Mon Jun 03 2024 - 19:51
Euro 2025 qualifier

Sweden v Republic of Ireland, Friends Arena, Stockholm, 6.30pm (5.30pm Irish time)

There have been so many changes to the Republic of Ireland line-up since their 1-1 draw in Gothenburg two years ago, a result that was among their finest ever away from home and one that sent them on the path to World Cup qualification, that that game holds little relevance to Tuesday’s meeting with Sweden in Stockholm (live on RTÉ2, kick-off 5.30pm Irish time). But still, Eileen Gleeson could do with some of that defiant 2022 spirit being rekindled if her team is to get off the mark in their Euro 2025 qualifying group.

With no little relief, the manager was able to mark her 52nd birthday on Monday by reporting a fully fit squad for the game, meaning any doubts about Katie McCabe’s availability have been eased after the captain appeared to be struggling with a hamstring problem in Friday’s 3-0 defeat by the Swedes in Dublin. And after missing that game with an ankle problem related to her long-running Achilles issue, Ruesha Littlejohn is fit again and an option for Gleeson in midfield.

Much of the commentary since Friday has been about the team’s struggles in front of goal after a fifth game in a row in which they failed to score. But Ireland also failed to do so in six of Vera Pauw’s last eight games in charge, most of them also against higher-ranked opposition, so it’s hardly a new issue for this team.

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And Gleeson, not unreasonably, made the point that this is the first qualifying campaign when Ireland have been in a group where all their opponents are from the top end of the Fifa rankings – there are no also-rans in there to provide target practice.

“Before, you’d have had a little bit of variance in your level of opposition. But now we’re playing three of the top six ranked sides in the world, and we have to manage it in a step-by-step process. That takes time, it’s not going to get you instant results, and you’re always going to be the underdog. People with a real understanding of football get that, people who don’t are maybe hypercritical. But we know what the level of our opponents is and we know what our own level is – there has to be a reality to that as well.”

The dilemma, though, for Gleeson is that her team produced their best performance so far in the group on Friday, in terms of getting on the front foot against their opponents and in the number of chances they created – but they suffered their heaviest defeat. Whether she’s bold enough to go with two up front again, as she did on Friday when Kyra Carusa had Amber Barrett for company, remains to be seen.

[ Goals prove elusive for Ireland in deflating Sweden defeat ]

There are other selection headaches to tend to, among them whether to start Megan Campbell on the left of the defence and push McCabe further up the pitch. Those throw-ins might not be the most sophisticated of weapons, but they cause no little chaos in opposing defences.

Pushing Jess Ziu higher up could be tempting too given her impressive attacking display from left wing-back on Friday, although Gleeson might be reluctant to lose her from that position. Littlejohn, Aoife Mannion, Tyler Toland, Lucy Quinn and Izzy Atkinson are among those holding their hands up should the manager want to freshen things up. In her 11 games in charge so far, she has used 29 players, so she’s not afraid of change.

She will, though, trust that the pitch is in better condition than she found it to be on Monday. While the Swedish players swooned over the quality of the surface at the Aviva Stadium last week, the one at the Friends Arena took a pounding from the 178,679 Swifties who danced their way through Taylor Swift’s three concerts at the venue between May 17th and 19th – the 60,243 who turned up for the third show made it the biggest crowd to ever attend any kind of event at the stadium.

Peg Parnevik isn’t quite at Swift’s level just yet, but the Swedish-American singer will provide the half-time entertainment in Tuesday’s game (golf fans might have heard of her dad, Jesper), and 21,000 tickets sold for the game by Monday afternoon.

Sweden’s one injury concern is Nathalie Björn, the Chelsea defender coming off at half-time on Friday after sustaining “a muscle injury”, but otherwise manager Peter Gerhardsson reports a clean bill of health for his squad.

Later in the evening, defending European champions England will attempt to get their campaign back on track when they meet France in Saint-Étienne, having lost 2-1 to the same opposition at St James’ Park on Friday. England’s only win in the group so far was against Ireland in Dublin in April, that result sandwiched between a draw at home to Sweden and the French defeat. The battle for those top two automatic qualifying spots for Euro 2025 in Switzerland is intriguing; alas, it doesn’t involve Ireland.

Mary Hannigan

Mary Hannigan

Mary Hannigan is a sports writer with The Irish Times