The Irish players had only got back to Dublin this week when all of the emotion from Hungary came flooding back. You can see it in the smiles, the readiness. Some of it is just being among the squad again, with the World Cup now in sight. Some of it is what Heimir Hallgrimsson has already said to them this week, before an initial play-off away to Czech Republic.
The four-month wait since Troy Parrott’s heroics have at least allowed a manager as measured as the Icelandic a lot of time to think about this week of weeks for Ireland, and he’s long known what he’s going to say to his squad and when - as well as what his tactical approach will be.
It was similar with the calculated team talk just before Ireland got on the team bus for that late 3-2 win over Hungary, which set off the wave they are now looking to surf all the way to the World Cup.
The players had been sitting in the meeting room for a fair few minutes, and there was still no sight of Hallgrimsson. A tension was building. Then, moments before leaving, Hallgrimsson appeared.
“What are you looking at me for,” he said. “It’s up to you now.”
Message more than received. They rose to it.
Such a detail may seem a small thing, but they were exactly the right words at exactly the right time, and planned for a few days. They also reflect a realisation that Hallgrimsson has long had about international football, from a decade of working with Ireland, Jamaica and his home country.
Quality is of course crucial, especially when you have Parrott’s impact. Tactics obviously give you a base, with the right tweaks turning any game. It is psychology, however, that is by far the most important over an entire campaign. That’s what the Hungary game was all about: resolve, will, character. The right group chemistry can amplify everything else, as Ireland’s own World Cup history from 1990 to 2002 proves.
They now want to add to it. And, for all of the Football Association of Ireland’s dysfunctions over recent years, it looks possible they have landed on the right man for this in Hallgrimsson.
In the same way he sees psychology as absolutely key to this level, those who know the 58-year-old say he is “a people person”, who just has that human insight for what makes players tick. One of many reasons that QPR’s Jimmy Dunne was picked was because Hallgrimsson instantly realised he was brilliant for the dressing room. The manager also messages and calls players a lot, and is always available when they need to speak to them about something in their careers or personal lives.
“He’s trying to help us have belief,” Parrott told The Independent last month in an exclusive interview. “Even though probably the rest of the country don’t. The chance is still there, and that’s all we need.”
To maximise such chances, Hallgrimsson knows to keep his actual team messages simple; to try and just tap into something within the players. In this case, it’s the good feeling from Parrott’s 96th-minute goal in Budapest.
That simplicity is all the more important when the route to this World Cup is so complicated. Ireland have essentially been playing a series of knock-outs since that crucial 2-0 home win over Portugal that set up the Hungary game. Now, victory in Prague on Thursday night would only put them into a decisive home qualifier against Denmark or North Macedonia.
Hallgrimsson chuckled about the escalating nature of this when talking to The Independent at the World Cup draw in Washington.
“For most of these players, it’s always going to be the biggest games they have played. If we win the next play-off, the next one will be the biggest game they have played, and then if we win that one, the World Cup, and that’s going to be the biggest game they have played. So it’s an exciting time in that we can create something that hasn’t happened for a long time.”
If the sheer scale of this could understandably get to some relatively inexperienced players, it is why Hallgrimsson tries to ensure everything is just viewed as step by step, so every individual challenge suddenly looks eminently surmountable.
It was again the same at half-time of the game in Budapest, when Ireland’s momentum had been checked by a Barnabas Varga strike that put Hungary 2-1 up.
Hallgrimsson just told the team to stay positive because one goal - no matter when it came - would cause panic.
That was exactly what happened, Parrott scoring what was perhaps his best strike of all with a sumptuous lift in the 80th minute.
Czech manager Miroslav Koubek duly said this week that “Ireland will come with a big heart - and to fight.”
His own team had been in disarray from the reign of predecessor Ivan Hasek, scrabbling through their group behind Croatia, only for the 74-year-old Koubek to restore some order.
It again points to why psychology is so important. These are two “average” teams - as Koubek put it about Ireland - partly elevated by some individual quality. The Czechs have Patrik Schick, Vladimir Coufal and Tomas Soucek, although there is a possibility that Soucek will be dropped over an ongoing controversy where the team didn’t acknowledge fans at the end of a dismal group.
Hallgrimsson’s selection issues are more routine, if still serious. He is missing his most important midfielder in Josh Cullen, after an ACL injury suffered in December.
The timing at least gave Hallgrimmson ample time to think about solutions, and a clear idea for this match is understood to have come to him a few weeks ago. There will of course be a strong defensive base from which to counter. Harvey Vale, having only two weeks ago switched allegiance from England to Ireland, is under consideration to start. The 22-year-old offers real craft. Vale’s inswinging crosses from the right are seen as almost undefendable, although that is precisely where Ireland could really miss the aerial power of the injured Evan Ferguson.
Really, though, most of Ireland’s approach will revolve around Parrott.
He’s in the form of his career, albeit one that is going to greater heights. Parrott has just escalated his form from those November games, to the point he already looks far too good for the Eredivisie. The 24-year-old will move to a higher level in the summer, with AC Milan currently the biggest club looking. It may yet be off the back of a World Cup.
When Parrott spoke to The Independent last month, he was visibly in the mood to seize all of this. He looked confident in exactly the right way.
Hence, veteran Czech defender Tomas Holes admitting that “one of the keys to winning the game is to eliminate Troy Parrott”.
He added: “He’s a football killer in the box.”
Parrott gave Ireland a new life. Now, starting in Prague, they are hoping to relive the old days. Hallgrimsson again sought to just nuance the thinking on it.
“A lot of the play-off teams were unhappy to be in the play-offs, but we are really excited. It’s maybe the difference in mentality as well, we have everything to play for.”
Hallgrimsson well knows, too, that mentality can make all the difference.
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