Ireland's European Play-Off game kicks off this Friday against Israel as both teams hope to qualify for the U21 European Championships in Romania and Georgia next summer.
This will be a pivotal match for Ireland, as they are just two games away from playing in their first ever major U21 tournament.
Here is all you need to know ahead of the game:
When Is Ireland v Israel U21?
Ireland v Israel U21 is this Friday at the Tallaght Stadium at 7pm.
How Can I Watch Ireland V Israel U21?
The game will be shown live on RTÉ Two with coverage starting at 6:30pm. It will also be available to stream on the RTÉ Player.
Form Guide
The young Irishmen come into the game with their most recent game being a 4-1 loss to Italy at the Stadio Cino e Lillo Del Luca.
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However, the Boys in Green qualified for the play-off regardless, due to the four straight wins beforehand in the group stage against Sweden home and away, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro.
They have scored in every group stage game bar one, with a tally of 16 goals. This bodes well for their crucial match on Friday.
Israel
Both teams have an identical group stage record, with 6 wins, 1 draw and 3 losses. However, Israel have scored more goals with 19.
Israel qualified for the play off after finishing 2nd in their group behind Germany.
They recently won 2-0 against San Marino, although this is their only win in the past 4 matches.
Team News
Former Senior player Aaron Connolly has been recalled to the u21 squad. He'll play for them for the first time since 2019. The Venezia forward hopes that it'll change people's perception on his Irish career.
Manager Jim Crawford has also called up Dara Costelloe, Anselmo Garcie MacNulty, Adam O'Reilly and Jim O'Reilly after Luca Connell, Liam Kerrigan, Mark McGuinness and David Harrington dropped out due to injury.
SQUAD UPDATE | Adam O'Reilly, David Odumosu, Dara Costelloe and Anselmo Garcia MacNulty called-up to U21s squad 🇮🇪#IRLU21 | #COYBIG | #WeAreOne
— FAIreland ⚽️🇮🇪 (@FAIreland) September 19, 2022
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