Soccer

O’Shea calls for team effort to blunt sharp Polish outfit

John O'Shea believes a collective approach will be a requisite to stop high-flying striker Robert Lewandowski
John O'Shea believes a collective approach will be a requisite to stop high-flying striker Robert Lewandowski John O'Shea believes a collective approach will be a requisite to stop high-flying striker Robert Lewandowski

JOHN O’Shea says it will take a “team effort” to stop Poland’s free-scoring striker Robert Lewandowski in Warsaw tomorrow night – but has every faith in the Irish attack causing the hosts some problems of their own.

The Bayern Munich star moved onto 12 goals in Group D after bagging a brace in Poland’s 2-2 draw with Scotland on Thursday night and tops the Euro 2016 goalscoring charts.

Indeed, his injury-time equaliser in Glasgow was an unwelcome goal from an Irish perspective as a home victory for the Scots would have left the Irish needing any kind of draw in the Polish capital to gain automatic qualification to next summer’s finals in France.

As it stands, the Republic need to win or at least a claim high-scoring draw (2-2 or higher) to stop the Poles going through on the head-to-head rule.

While O’Shea acknowledges the danger Lewandowski (right) poses, the Sunderland defender reminded reporters the Republic boast the best defensive record in Group D, having conceded just five goals in nine games. 

“It won’t just be me [trying to stop Lewandowski], it will be a team effort,” said O’Shea. 

“And we have shown that all through the campaign. I think we have the best defensive record in the campaign and that’s not just come from the defenders, it’s the goalkeepers and the midfield unit.


“The players have stuck together and give it everything and we’ll do that again on Sunday.

“We’ll be confident of causing them problems; we have Shane Long, Daryl Murphy, Jonny Walters and Robbie Keane, plenty of players to cause them problems.”

The 34-year-old Waterford man expects the Republic to play with a “freedom” in Warsaw given that they have already secured at least a play-off berth for next summer’s finals.

“Now we’ve beaten Germany, we have the confidence of knowing that there’s a freedom there, that the play-offs are taken care of and you have a real chance,” he said.

“There will be a little bit more pressure on Poland at home. They are fully aware of what we’ve done and the confidence that we’ll get from beating Germany. But, look, we need another big shift, another big performance to get the three points.”

For long stretches of this roller-coaster campaign it looked as though the resurgent Scots would finish ahead of Ireland, having taken four points off them over two games.

“We spoke about dusting ourselves down and making sure we got the maximum from Georgia and Gibraltar, six points, and see where we are in the table,” said O’Shea.

But it was Scotland’s surprise defeat in Georgia last month that breathed new life into Ireland’s qualification hopes.

“Ah, look, before the Georgia and Gibraltar games, with Scotland slipping up and giving us the chance to get back ahead, that was key for us and gave us the belief into thinking the play-off would be ours. We have a great chance of automatic qualification now and it’s a great position to be in.”

O’Shea acknowledged that Thursday night’s historic victory over world champions Germany would “live long in the memory” and expressed the hope that Martin O’Neill would remain for at least another campaign with Ireland.

“The manager is building up a fantastic spirit among everyone and hopefully it continues,” he said.