Mikey Johnston has warned the Netherlands not to underestimate the Republic of Ireland as the Dutch try to guide their place on the finals of Euro 2024.
Barring an unlikely sequence of occasions which might hand Ireland a play-off place, they won’t be in Germany subsequent summer season, however the Netherlands might be if they will take most factors from their remaining Group B fixtures in opposition to Stephen Kenny’s males and Gibraltar subsequent month.
Monday evening’s last-gasp 1-0 win in Greece as the Republic beat Gibraltar 4-0 in Faro left the Netherlands in pole place to declare second place behind France, however Celtic winger Johnston, who was on the scoresheet together with Evan Ferguson, Matt Doherty and Callum Robinson, is set to finish a disappointing marketing campaign on a high.
Big wins for Portugal, Republic of Ireland and Iceland; Dutch depart it late.#EURO2024 pic.twitter.com/oed46HCyUk
— UEFA EURO 2024 (@EURO2024) October 16, 2023
Asked if he noticed the journey to Amsterdam as an opportunity to bloody the nostril of certainly one of European soccer’s large weapons, who received 2-1 in Dublin final month, the 24-year-old mentioned: “I feel we’ve proven we are able to try this.
“Obviously the outcomes haven’t gone our method, however we went toe-to-toe with them and it’s simply nice margins.
“At both finish within the field, we’ve not been ok at instances, conceding targets we shouldn’t have and possibly we’ve not taken our probabilities as nicely.
“This group has given everything to qualify and that’s all we can ask.”
Ireland all the time knew that they had a troublesome activity to get out of the group once they have been drawn in opposition to each the Dutch and World Cup runners-up France.
But defeat by the Greeks in Athens of their second fixture left them up in opposition to it and they’ll head into their closing fixture with solely six factors banked from the primary seven, all of them in opposition to whipping boys Gibraltar.
That return has left supervisor Kenny dealing with a evaluation subsequent month which could nicely have been introduced ahead regardless of assurances to the opposite had issues gone badly on the Estadio Algarve, and few commentators count on him to stay in his position.
Asked to assess the marketing campaign, Johnston mentioned: “Obviously it’s disappointing that we haven’t qualified. Our group is obviously tough, but we are not making excuses, we still believed we could qualify from the group.”
Whether or not Kenny is concerned within the worldwide set-up past November stays to be seen, however Johnston will hope his efforts to date within the inexperienced shirt will lead to additional caps.
His six appearances thus far – the final of them a primary begin – have yielded two targets and an thrilling model of soccer which has at instances been lacking from Kenny’s staff regardless of the supervisor’s makes an attempt to undertake a extra progressive method.
Johnston spent final season on mortgage at Vitoria Guimaraes in Portugal, however has missed the beginning of the brand new marketing campaign again at Celtic after struggling a stress fracture in his again, and he’s now wanting to catch the attention of membership boss Brendan Rodgers.
He mentioned: “I’m just trying to work my way behind the scenes to get my opportunity. The manager has got tough decisions to make. He has got wingers that he has brought in for a few million and whatever, so it’s up to me to get into the team.”
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