Lingering hope of the Republic of Ireland qualifying for the European Championships in Germany next summer plummeted at 11.45am on Tuesday morning with news that Evan Ferguson will not feature against France at Parc des Princes on Thursday night.
The 18-year-old sustained a knee injury in the closing stages of Brighton’s 3-1 win over Newcastle United at the Amex on Saturday. The match was the zenith of Ferguson’s fledgling Premier League career as he scored his first professional hat-trick.
Now comes the nadir. The striker will miss the entire international window, which reduces Irish chances of securing a positive result against France in Paris or the Netherlands at the Aviva Stadium on Sunday.
“The Brighton and Hove Albion forward sustained a knee injury in the 3-1 win over Newcastle United on Saturday,” read an FAI statement. “Ferguson reported for international duty on Sunday but after assessment from the Ireland medical team, he has been ruled out of both fixtures.”
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The injury was caused by Brazilian midfielder Bruno Guimarães colliding with Ferguson in the 79th minute of Saturday’s victory. It happened nine minutes after Ferguson’s third strike, with Guimarães’s over-the-ball challenge appearing to trap the teenager’s right foot.
The teenager tried to carry on but was quickly substituted by Brighton manager Roberto de Zerbi. The aftermath of Ferguson’s superb performance had De Zerbi comparing him to Christian Vieri while Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker saw shades of Erling Haaland.
The seriousness of the injury is unknown – Ireland manager Stephen Kenny will speak to the media on Wednesday evening – but Ferguson did not travel with the squad to Paris. A replacement has not been called up as Kenny intends to use one from Adam Idah, Will Keane, Aaron Connolly or even Chiedozie Ogbene as the lone forward against France.
None of the alternatives come close to reaching the level to which Ferguson has climbed in just nine months of senior football, although Idah, Connolly and Keane have between them scored nine goals in the opening four rounds of the EFL Championship.
Ferguson has two goals and one assist from six senior caps.
Of the other Irish attackers, only Ogbene plays in the top flight of English football after the 26-year-old joined Luton Town, primarily as a winger, during the summer.
“Let’s be realistic here,” said Ogbene on Monday, “we need to get four points to have control of our destiny. So, we’ve put that bit of pressure on ourselves.
“Three points puts us back into it but we’re not in control. We want to be in control. That’s the pressure the manager has put on us, and that’s the pressure we put on ourselves. We all want to achieve that. We want to qualify for Germany.”
John Egan also sustained a leg injury in Premier League action for Sheffield United against Everton on Saturday but he trained in Dublin on Tuesday morning before Dr Seán Carmody deemed him healthy enough to travel. However, it is conceivable that the Irish captain, standing-in for the injured Séamus Coleman, will also miss the definitive window of the Kenny era.
If Egan joins Ferguson, Coleman, Callum O’Dowda and the suspended Matt Doherty on the unavailable list, the Irish team will need a significant reshape from the 2-1 loss to Greece in Athens on June 16th.
Gavin Bazunu seems certain to remain the starting goalkeeper despite a shaky start to Southampton’s season, with Nathan Collins and Dara O’Shea joined in defence by Andrew Omobamidele or Shane Duffy.
Containing Kylian Mbappé down the left has become an enormous task now that Coleman and Doherty are absent. Festy Ebosele is unlikely to be handed his international debut marking the world’s best player so Preston skipper Alan Browne or Jason Knight could be redeployed from midfield.
Failure to remain in contention for Euro ‘24 after five of eight qualifiers might prompt the FAI board of directors to trigger a break clause in the manager’s two-year contract extension. This would create a situation whereby the association is searching for a men’s and women’s senior manager at the same time.
FAI chief executive Jonathan Hill has refused to discuss Vera Pauw’s contract, before or after she was not offered a new deal last week, or Kenny’s situation despite widespread media reports suggesting that England under-21 coach Lee Carsley is being considered as his replacement.
Hill is due to speak to the media in mid-September.
