Latest news with #goalDifference
Irish Times
4 days ago
- General
- Irish Times
Ireland in need of a goal glut against Slovenia to top Nations League group
While they might have travelled to Istanbul last week with the hope of a Nations League victory big enough to eat into group leaders Slovenia's goal-difference advantage, in the end Carla Ward's Republic of Ireland players were just relieved to secure a narrow win . Not for the first time in this group, they had a tough day at the office. Ireland were indebted to a Turkish own goal and Emily Murphy's 89th-minute winner. It kept alive their hopes of topping the group and earning automatic promotion back to League A. But – and it's a huge 'but' – they must beat Slovenia by five goals in Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Tuesday evening if they are to overtake them on goal difference. Considering they lost 4-0 to the same opposition in February , that's quite the ask. 'That's character for you,' said Ward after her team recovered from conceding an early second-half goal against Turkey. 'That's the Irish mentality, never rolling over.' They'll need more than big hearts against a Slovenia side that is in pinch-me territory. READ MORE 'We have exceeded our goals,' said their goalkeeper, Zala Mersnik, after last Friday's 2-0 victory against Greece made it five wins out of five in the group. 'Initially, all we wanted was to stay in League B, but our appetites have grown in the meantime.' A year ago, they were in the third tier of the competition, mixing it with nations ranked outside the world's top 100. Since winning promotion, they have cruised through their League B campaign, conceding just one goal in their five games. If they can avoid a heavy defeat in Cork, they'll be playing in League A next time around. Manager Sasa Kolman has bigger ambitions than avoiding defeat. 'We are going to Cork to win, we do not know how to think any other way,' he said on Friday. If Ireland are to pull it off, they will, as Katie McCabe put it after the Turkey game, 'have to be miles better' against Slovenia. 'If we want to be pushing for League A, we can't be conceding goals like that,' she said of Kader Hancar's 49th-minute goal. 'We gave them too much space, we need to take more care with the ball.' 'We need a massive improvement if we are going to beat Slovenia. It's a tough ask. They have played brilliantly for the whole Nations League campaign, but I've got belief in us. We can score goals from different phases of play. We can't rush it; we have to be patient. We need to be at our absolute best.' [ Katie McCabe's story: How gifted Dubliner reached top level of European soccer Opens in new window ] The win in Turkey did at least guarantee Ireland, at worst, the runners-up spot in the group, which would put them in to a two-leg promotion playoff in October against a third-placed team in League A. So there's nothing to lose in this final game. They might as well go for it. Ward has some big selection decisions to make if that goal glut is to be achieved. She won't need to be reminded that when she played an attacking 4-4-2 formation in Koper in February, Slovenia were 3-0 up by half-time. Ruesha Littlejohn, Kyra Carusa and Murphy will be among those pushing for a start, while the manager may need to rejig her defence if Aoife Mannion doesn't recover from the knock that saw her go off at half-time in Istanbul.
BBC News
13-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Why Villa could miss out...
Speaking on The Football News Show, former Chelsea and Scotland winger Pat Nevin believes Aston Villa could miss out on Champions League qualification due to their inferior goal difference and exertions in other competitions this The Football News Show on BBC iPlayer
