Republic of Ireland 1
New Zealand 1
Netherlands 1
Nigeria 0
Canada 2
Luxembourg 0 - 3 Republic of Ireland
REPORT | Luxembourg 0-3 Ireland - Ogbene inspires win
Goals from Shane Duffy, Chiedozie Ogbene and Callum Robinson paved the way to a very confident victory that ended the campaign. Jason Knight was influential in Ireland's victory along with Gavin Bazunu as he once again pulled off a world-class save to earn a clean sheet.
Stephen Kenny made two changes from the side that drew against Portugal. Adam Idah and James McClean came into the side in place of Jamie McGrath and Enda Stevens. The home side exerted some early pressure with Maxime Chanot and Gerson Rodrigues made advances on Gavin Bazunu’s goal but the Irish defence with Shane Duffy leading the line holding firm to clear the danger.
Callum Robinson forced Ralph Schon into a fine save as his half volley on the edge of the area had the keeper at full stretch to deny Ireland an early goal. Ireland continued to press Luxembourg with Chiedozie Ogbene and Robinson once more having sights on the goal with Robinson’s free-kick taking a deflection for a corner.
Moments later Gavin Bazunu made an excellent save denying Olivier Thill whose long-range effort took a deflection en route to Bazunu pushing it around the post for a corner. Ireland continued to press forward and a cross from James McClean met Adam Idah who tried to guide the ball in at the back post but it was deflected for a corner.
Ogbene forced another save from Schon as the ball fell to the Ireland striker in the area and his well-struck effort had to be tipped over the bar for another Irish corner. John Egan nearly opened the Ireland account right on halftime as his header from a Josh Cullen corner was once again stopped by Schon.
After the interval, Ireland started very brightly with Idah creating a clever attempt on goal following a well-placed cross by Jeff Hendrick. Bazunu was called upon once again as a loose ball fell came to Rodrigues but the curling effort was stopped by the Irish custodian.
Matt Doherty struck an effort from range but his effort went high over the bar. Danel Sinani looked as if he had put the hosts in front but his goal was disallowed following a foul on Shane Duffy in the build-up.
Ireland continued to try and break into the Luxembourg defence with James McClean forcing Schon to put the ball behind for a corner as his cross into the area evaded everyone with the keeper alert to the danger of the pace of the ball.
Ireland’s opened the scoring midway through the second half as a Josh Cullen free kick was excellent with Shane Duffy on hand to head the ball home from close range to score his eighth goal for his country.
Ireland added a second as Jason Knight and Jeff Hendrick instrumental in the move slotted the ball into Chiedozie Ogbene who did brilliantly to slide the ball under Schon. Callum Robinson almost added a third as the ball fell to him following a poor defensive clearance that Schon was forced to block down.
He was to get this goal after a fantastic cross into the area from James McClean was knocked into his path with a clever pass by Jason Knight for Robinson to slot it home to seal the tie.
Luxembourg: Ralph Schon (GK), Maxime Chanot, Vahid Selimovic, Christopher Martins Pereira (Sébastien Thill), Danel Sinani, Gerson Rodrigues, Yvandro Borges Sanches (Maurice Deville 51), Olivier Thill, Leandro Barreiro, Michael Pinto, Laurent Jans ©.
Subs not used: Tim Kips (GK), Thimoty Martin (GK), Florian Bohnert, Kevin Malget, Diogo Pimentel, Eric Veiga, Maurice Deville, Aldin Skenderovic, Mathias Olesen, Michael Omosanya.
Republic of Ireland: Gavin Bazunu, Seamus Coleman ©, Shane Duffy, John Egan, Josh Cullen (Conor Hourihane 89), Callum Robinson (Andrew Omobamidele 89), Adam Idah (Jason Knight 61), Matt Doherty (Troy Parrott 89), James McClean, Jeff Hendrick, Chiedozie Ogbene (Alan Browne 81).
Subs not used: Caoimhin Kelleher (GK), Mark Travers (GK), Enda Stevens, Nathan Collins, Jamie McGrath, William Keane, Callum O’Dowda, Andrew Omobamidele. Booked: Vahid Selimovic, Christopher Martins, Josh Cullen, Shane Duffy, Jason Knight
Player of the Match: Chiedozie Ogbene
Referee: Tamás Bognár (HUN)
Attendance: 9,260
PREVIEW | Luxembourg v Republic of Ireland
Stephen Kenny's Ireland side head into the match knowing a win against the hosts will leapfrog Ireland ahead of Luxembourg into third spot in the group.
Ireland travelled to Luxembourg yesterday on the back of an impressive 0-0 draw against Portugal as they look to end the campaign on a high.
Match Details
Fixture: Luxembourg v Republic of Ireland
Competition: FIFA 2022 World Cup Qualification
Date: Sunday, November 14
Kick-off: 7.45pm
Location: Stade de Luxembourg
TV: RTE & Sky Sports
Match Officials
Referee: Tamás Bognár (HUN)
Assistant 1: Balázs Buzás (HUN)
Assistant 2: Péter Kóbor (HUN)
Fourth Official: Balázs Berke (HUN)
Video Assistant Referee: Katalin Kulcsár (HUN)
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: István Vad (HUN)
Team News
Andrew Omobamidele trained with the team in Luxembourg this evening and is in contention for the match at the Stade de Luxembourg tomorrow night.
What he said - Manager Stephen Kenny
"Luxembourg are a technical team, a good team, a possession based team, we’ll have to earn the right to win, we’ll have to work hard to win, we’re very determined to do that. We want to make sure we can do that and we’re ready to go.
"One of the things we’re on is a good run of results, as I spoke about the nine games and the level of performance has been good and we want to back that up after the other day against Portugal.
"We don’t want to play Portugal, play extremely well in front of a full house, and come over here and lower our standards.
"It’s important that we keep going, we push on again, try to win tomorrow night. We’re very determined to try and do that and that’s very important for all the group, we have to go and put in a strong performance."
Watch the full press conference with Stephen Kenny here...
What he said - Captain Seamus Coleman
"Revenge mission? I don't want to look at it like that, in terms of I think we're in a better place ourselves I think," he said at Saturday's pre-match press conference.
"The last few meet-ups have been good. We played some good football at times against Portugal so we need to take that good atmosphere into this game rather than thinking too far back on what happened (at home against Luxembourg).
"The second half of the campaign, things have started to come together for us and I watched from the sideline in the lead-up to the Portugal game in training as I had played on the Sunday and the tactical work, it was plain to be seen what was being done on the training ground and we did bring that forward into the game."
Watch the full press conference with Seamus Coleman here...
Luxembourg v Ireland - Opta Stats
- Republic of Ireland have won five of their six matches against Luxembourg in all competitions, though they lost 1-0 in March in the reverse World Cup 2022 qualifier at the Aviva Stadium.
- Luxembourg have lost all three of their home games against the Republic of Ireland and have only netted one goal against them on home soil, a Léon Mart penalty in May 1936 in a 5-1 loss.
- Republic of Ireland have won two of their last four away matches (D1 L1), one more than in their previous 16 on the road (D7 L8). They haven’t won consecutive away games since October/November 2016, beating Moldova and Austria under Martin O’Neill.
- Luxembourg have won two of their last five home World Cup qualifiers (D1 L2), only one fewer than they won in their first 64 home qualifying games (W3 D3 L58).
- Luxembourg have won three of their seven games in World Cup 2022 qualifying (L4), only the second time they’ve recorded as many as three wins in a single qualifying campaign in their history (also 3 for EURO 1996).
- Gerson Rodrigues has been involved in seven of Luxembourg’s eight goals scored in this qualifying campaign, scoring five and assisting two. Rodrigues scored the winner for Luxembourg in their 1-0 win against Republic of Ireland in the reverse fixture.
- Goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu has played six World Cup qualifying matches this campaign – at 19-years-old, his next game will see him equal the record for most competitive appearances as a teenager for Republic of Ireland, currently held by both Ian Harte and Robbie Keane with seven.
Tactical Lineups
Luxembourg
Substitutes
- 12 Tim Kips (G)
- 23 Thimoty Martin (G)
- 3 Florian Bohnert
- 4 Kevin Malget
- 6 Diogo Pimentel
- 7 Eric Veiga
- 14 Maurice Deville
- 19 Aldin Skenderovic
- 20 Mathias Olesen
- 21 Sébastien Thill
- 22 Michael Omosanya
Coach
Luc Holtz
Republic of Ireland
Substitutes
- 16 Caoimhin Kelleher (G)
- 23 Mark Travers (G)
- 3 Enda Stevens
- 8 Conor Hourihane
- 12 Nathan Collins
- 14 Alan Browne
- 15 Troy Parrott
- 17 Jason Knight
- 18 Jamie McGrath
- 19 Will Keane
- 21 Callum O'Dowda
- 22 Andrew Omobamidele
Coach
Stephen Kenny
Officials
- Referee Tamás Bognár
- Assistant Referees Balázs Buzás
- UEFA Delegate Diana Andersen
- Assistant Referee Two Péter Kóbor
- Fourth Official Balázs Berke
- Assistant Video Assistant Referee István Vad
- Video Assistant Referee Katalin Kulcsár
- Referee Observer Zoran Petrović
Match Statistics
- Luxembourg
- Republic of Ireland
Minute by Minute Commentary