For Republic of Ireland fans, the nerves really started to kick in on Thursday night.
Just hours after Heimir Hallgrimsson unveiled his 25-man squad for the World Cup play-off semi-final against the Czech Republic, Irish eyes turned to Prague early to watch Troy Parrott in action for AZ Alkmaar.
Considering it was Parrott’s goalscoring heroics that propelled the Republic of Ireland to this position, the fans would have been forgiven for watching from behind the sofa.
Thankfully for them, an injury scare was not forthcoming.
Instead, Parrott left an early mark on the Czech capital, scoring and bagging an assist in his side’s 4-0 Uefa Conference League win over Slavia Prague.
Less than 72 hours later, Parrott started again for Alkmaar. He played all 90 minutes in a 3-0 loss to Groningen, but supporters drew a collective sigh of relief when he came through unscathed.
“Everyone was keeping an eye on his game,” said Republic of Ireland assistant coach John O’Shea.
“Listen, the way it works for the weekend when the boys meet up, you’re nervous as soon as the games start on Friday. We had [players in games on] Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.”
Having avoided any late injury scares, the Republic of Ireland squad assembled on Sunday before the biggest week of their international careers.
The mission is clear: win two games and they qualify for the country’s first World Cup since 2002. Anything less and the journey will end in heartache.
Victory in Prague on Thursday (19:45 GMT) is the first job – and it is difficult to escape the feeling that a nation’s hopes are pinned on Parrott.
Leave a Reply