Republic of Ireland need to be perfect to stop Portugal – Heimir Hallgrimsson | OneFootball

Heimir Hallgrimsson has admitted the Republic of Ireland will have to produce a near “perfect” display if they are to get a positive result in Saturday’s World Cup qualifier against Portugal.

Ireland head into the game at the Jose Alvalade Stadium with their Group F hopes already severely damaged by last month’s home draw with Hungary and humbling 2-1 defeat in Armenia.

They will have to produce something special in Lisbon if they are to give themselves something to build on when the Armenians head for Dublin next Tuesday, and their head coach knows the margin for error is almost non-existent.

Hallgrimsson said: “First of all, we know we need to have almost a perfect game to get something from this match. And if we do, we have a chance to steal a point or to win the game.

“Obviously, we need to try to keep a clean sheet – that’s always going to make it easier. But for the players to have a good performance, yes, they would definitely believe more and give them more confidence. That was taken away from us, if I can say that, in Armenia.”

Ireland have got the better of big names – the Netherlands, then world champions Germany and Italy are among their victims – when they have needed big results in the not too distant past, and Stephen Kenny’s side came within a minute of adding Portugal to that list when the sides met in the same competition at the Estadio Algarve in September 2021.

That night, two headers from Cristiano Ronaldo in the 89th minute and the sixth minute of added time turned Ireland’s 1-0 lead into a 2-1 defeat, and Hallgrimsson’s men may have to contend with the now 40-year-old Al-Nassr star once again as they attempt to get the better of a team ranked fifth in the world.

Asked if his squad had the capacity to achieve what some of its predecessors did, Hallgrimsson said: “You’ll see tomorrow.”

Striker Evan Ferguson, like Ronaldo, burst on to the Premier League scene as a precocious teenager, and the Irishman will get a first chance to come up against one of the game’s greats on Saturday evening.

Asked if the former Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus player was someone he had looked up to as a youngster, the understated Ferguson said: “Yes, he would have been, I think.

“Growing up, everyone would have looked at him as a kid, you know what I mean? So yes, he’s a good player.”

Whatever else Ireland do in Lisbon, they will need to exorcise the ghost of their dreadful night in Yerevan.

Hallgrimsson, who has called QPR defender Jimmy Dunne into the squad after Liam Scales withdrew from the trip to Portugal because of a family bereavement, is confident they will do just that.

He said: “I think everyone that played this game in Armenia wants to correct what went wrong there, whether it was personal performance or collective performance.

“Everybody likes to have this opportunity that we have tomorrow to play against one of the best teams in the world and to correct what went wrong.”