Republic of Ireland U-19 head coach, Dave Connell, insists his team will go into today’s UEFA WU19 Championship Finals in Norway opener full of confidence.
Taking on Spain in the first game in Group B, Ireland are hoping to maintain the impressive performances that they produced in qualifying, where they recorded wins over Kazakhstan, Greece, Austria, and Turkey.
Preparation has gone according to plan with the team undergoing their first training session in Oslo yesterday and Connell has a full squad of players to choose from for a crunch game.
Spain, who scored 13 goals in qualifying, represent formidable opposition, but Connell admitted that Ireland are ready for the challenge before turning their focus to England and Sweden.
“It’s Spain in the first game and all of our training sessions have been geared towards that first game,” said Connell from the team’s training base in Oslo.
“We haven’t looked at the English or the Swedish games at all yet. We played both of them in the La Manga tournament in March – drew with England, beat Sweden.
“We know what to expect. It’s a hard group. But we’ve got our homework done on Spain and we fancy our chances. We have very hard-working girls and we’re a tough nut to crack, so we’re going to make it difficult for them.
“There are eight countries in it and we’re in as eighth seed because we are in as the best runner-up. We got through the September qualifying round campaign unbeaten, we got through the La Manga tournament unbeaten, and we got through the elite qualifiers in Holland unbeaten.
“When it comes to the nitty gritty and the hard work in the group stages and competition time the girls are very focused. We’ve a good side and we’re looking forward to it – we’re not fearing anyone.”
With no injury concerns, Connell has a selection of talented players at his disposal, including Raheny United duo Clare Shine and Katie McCabe, who scored nine goals between them in qualifying.
Hopes are high within the squad about making a positive start to their first ever UEFA European Championship finals with two teams from each group qualifying for the knockout stages.
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