Coach Heimir Hallgrimsson says “the result is the only thing that matters” ahead of the Republic of Ireland’s crucial World Cup qualifier against Armenia in Dublin on Tuesday night.
Hallgrimsson’s side are bottom of Group F after away defeats to Tuesday’s rivals and Portugal, and their only point came in a 2-2 home draw against Hungary in September.
His team has a chance to redeem themselves against Armenia and needs to win to keep their slim World Cup hopes alive.
“I believe in this team and I think it has everything to qualify for the World Cup,” Hallgrimsson said.
“We are not favorites in the group at the moment, but a win would change that, and I think we are going to do that.
“The result is the only thing that matters, however we do it. This is a results game, 100%.”
The Icelander has stressed the importance of a fast start in front of his home crowd, drawing the positives from an ultimately crushing defeat in Lisbon on Saturday.
After containing Portugal for most of the match, Ruben Neves finally broke their defensive rearguard with a 91st-minute winner, with Hallgrimsson fully aware that he will need to change his tactics for Tuesday’s visit to Armenia.
“We knew that once Portugal didn’t score, they would open up and get frustrated. And you could see it in their body language, they got more and more frustrated,” Hallgrimsson continued.
“Now we change that psychology. We need to win the game and we can’t lose concentration at the beginning because we know the fact that we need to win the game, we need to be smart, have game management throughout the game.
“The goal may come in the 91st minute like in Portugal, but keep going. Don’t be individual, stay collective both in attack and defense.”
Hallgrimsson led his native Iceland to the 2018 World Cup finals and, despite the Republic of Ireland’s poor start to the campaign, believes a win can transform their chances of reaching the tournament next summer.
“We know that Armenia is a very good team, so no one here will ever underestimate Armenia. I think we realize that tomorrow (Tuesday) there will be a lot of pressure on us.”
“We just have to accept that. That reality is that there will be pressure on us to win the game. But again, it doesn’t have to happen in the first minute.
“We need to be smart against this team. If we’re not smart, they can punish us, like they did in Armenia.”