Republic of Ireland v Portugal: ‘It’s not going to be a basketball match’ – Heimir Hallgrimsson

Republic of Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrimsson insists their World Cup qualifier with Portugal in Dublin on Thursday is “not going to be a basketball match.”

In last month’s reverse fixture in Lisbon, they managed to frustrate Portugal before a Ruben Neves injury-time winner snatched a 1-0 win for the hosts.

Victory over Armenia followed for the Republic of Ireland to leave them in third place in Group F and a point behind second-placed Hungary.

“Our approach is not going to change. We need to play a certain style against Portugal, whether we need a win or a draw, we need to play a certain style,” Hallgrimsson said.

“We can’t go all-in against a team like Portugal. It’s not going to be a basketball match and then we will take calculated risks if we need to score a goal later on in the game.

“We have a plan for it and the players must be ready psychologically for this encounter.”

The 58-year-old does not expect their opponents to change their style for the reverse fixture, despite Roberto Martinez’s side failing to create many goal-scoring opportunities against them in October.

A solid defensive performance from the Republic frustrated their hosts that night, which included Caoimhin Kelleher saving a second-half penalty from Cristiano Ronaldo before Neves headed home in the 91st minute.

“They probably will tweak a few things, given that they didn’t create a lot of goal-scoring chances against us,” Hallgrimsson continued,

“They had some shots from outside the box, some crosses, but I think we kind of controlled how they attacked us. We cannot defend all their threats – it’s impossible – so we need to give them some areas and then we know what to expect.”