Stephen Kenny's men have a trip to Baku to take on Azerbaijan in a World Cup Qualifier. In their last meeting in September, a Shane Duffy goal against the Azers saved Ireland from another embarrassing defeat. A draw with Serbia after that made qualifying pretty much impossible with three games left to play. Now with nothing to lose Ireland can play with a degree of freedom. Kenny has flooded a lot of young talent into this squad and it could be exciting to watch a fearless Ireland play. So, here's all the information on how to watch Ireland vs Azerbaijan.
How to watch Ireland vs Azerbaijan
The match is on Saturday 9th October with kick off in Baku at 5pm Irish time.
The match will be live on RTÉ 2. Their coverage starts at 4:15pm.
It will also be on Sky Sports Football with their coverage starting at 4:30pm.
How are both sides looking?
As we all know by now Ireland have been in somewhat of a rough patch in the last few years. However, they aren't completely out of the qualifying race for the World Cup. A miracle would need to take place where Ireland win all three remaining games and need every other match left in the group to go their way. If that happens, then they might qualify for the playoffs. Therefore the World Cup dream is pretty much over and Stephen Kenny can experiment with the squad.
Kenny has brought in Wigan's Will Keane into the squad. The striker is the twin brother of Everton's Michael Keane and was a huge prospect in Manchester United's academy when he was there. Will Keane was the starting striker for the famous 2011 team that won the FA Youth Cup with Paul Pogba, Jesse Lingard and Ravel Morrison. Keane left United in 2016 and has had a career in the football league since. This season he has been on top form, scoring 5 already in League One for Wigan Athletic.
Welcome Will Keane 😃
Great to welcome Will into his first Ireland camp 🇮🇪#COYBIG | #WeAreOne | #WeAre100 pic.twitter.com/rG80uSN302— FAIreland ⚽️🇮🇪 (@FAIreland) October 4, 2021
Seamus Coleman and Dara O'Shea are both out through injuries. Alan Brown and Jayson Molumby are out as well with suspensions. Jason Knight has recovered from injury and has been called back into the squad along with Enda Stevens, Chiedozie Ogbene and Nathan Collins.
Azerbaijan's only point in qualifying so far was the one they got in Dublin during the last international break. They sit bottom of the group behind Ireland. Most of their squad play in Azerbaijan for Qarabag, who have feature in the Champions League in recent years and are Europa League regulars.
Ireland are still in transition and fans will have to wait to see the boys in green at a tournament. But it will be very uplifting to see a good away win in Baku with the lads playing positive football.
See Also: Here's The Exciting Ireland Team We Want To See Against Azerbaijan
