Started and went the distance vs FC Ararat-Armenia in the Champions League qualifiers. Match ended with a 2-0 defeat. Healy picked up a yellow-card in the 81' (temper temper...) Shamrock gave themselves a lot of work to do in the home leg!
It was away and Rovers handsomely overturned a 2-0 deficit in the home leg in the last tie. Meanwhile, Ararat won the first leg 2-0 at home in the last round and lost 3-2 away in the return match against a Latvian side. Rovers are a lot stronger. Then there's Ararat's record in European competition In the last 3 seasons, they've won their first-round ties against teams from Albania, Moldova and Romania and then lost all 3 second-round ties against Greek, Hungarian and Czech opposition. They've never qualified for the group stages of UEFA competition. Rovers are chasing their third qualification in a row I wouldn't bet against the job being done back in Tallaght.
BTW the winner of this tie will face the winner of a Celje (Slovenia)-Egnatia (Albania) tie for a place in the CL group stage The losers will play each other in the Europa League 3rd round playoff for a Europa League place
I keep forgetting that the new qualification format is more forgiving for a loss in the qualifiers if you're gunning for CL or EL. Also agree that Rovers are still in the tie. Can't find many stats on this match, but a summary from an Irish paper makes it sound like the first goal was a bit of a self-inflicted wound, and that Rovers missed at least 2 sitters.
They did miss a few sitters and FWIW the Rovers coach regards them as a real step up in level on Floriana. While they're in danger of missing out on a winnable CL qualification tie, the EL group stages aren't too shabby either. Not bad for a club whose league Transfermarkt rated as being less valuable than a top Scottish Championship side 10 years ago. Now, Rovers alone are valued ahead of 5 SPL sides.
Matt Healy gives Rovers a dream start with an expertly taken goal after just 12 minutes, though it took 6 minutes for the fcuktards in VAR to give it the green light. Another 70+ minutes to get the 2nd goal needed to bring themselves back on level terms, though Ararat are clearly no mugs and have looked dangerous on the break Edit: They only needed another 20 minutes to get the 2nd goal. All square on aggregate heading towards the break and Rovers are good value - make that very good value - for their lead
Rovers utterly dominated the 2nd half even more than the first but Ararat scored a good breakaway goal in the 73rd minute and Rovers lost a step thereafter. They kept pushing but the edge was missing Over the tie, they were much the better side but were punished for not showing up in the 1st leg It's the EL qualifiers now to keep the hope of UEFA ball alive, where they'll play Albanian side Egnatia
The Egnatia tie (1st leg on Tuesday IIRC) is do-or-die. Lose and they crash out of UEFA football for the season. Win and they go to the EL final qualifying round, with the winner qualifying for the EL group stage and the loser getting a Conference League berth. Mercifully, the first leg is at home where Rovers have been convincing this year. A win there will set them up nicely. Here's hoping
Healy starts in the first leg of the 3rd round of EL qualification. Rovers are hosting KF Egnatia of Albania.
They're getting it done so far; 3-1 to Rovers on the hour mark. Holding on to his lead is important, as Rovers' boss, Stephen Bradley, regards them as being the strongest side Rovers have faced in qualification so far. Another goal would be very desirable because the return leg in Tirana will be very hard and they've missed a number of very good chances and at least one sitter
And 3-1 it finished. Another Rovers goal would have put the tie to bed but by the end I was worried that Sod's Law would kick in and Egnatia would pull one back On to Tirana next week and with League of Ireland games being played on Friday evenings, they should be well-rested ahead of that one.
He was born in NY but he doesn't seem to have ever even discussed it (that that I can find anyway) so I'd imagine it's just a detail for him. He has won a dozen U-21 caps and his excellent Rovers form has been rewarded by an international callup but no senior caps so far. As for whether the US MNT is missing anything, it's pretty unlikely. His callup was for post-season friendlies organized when we made the playoffs that finished against Canada in Toronto. When we didn't qualify, the coach announced a second-string squad and after the home games many pulled out of the trip to Canada. Healy was a replacement for those second-string withdrawals. To put it differently, the squad that travelled to Canada included no less than 6 League of Ireland players, a teenager from the Austrian 2nd division (admittedly RB Salzburg's reserves) and a guy from Portugal's D2. He's a good lad playing for a strong unit at Rovers, but his international ceiling is not high for us. The US is out of the question