The Republic of Ireland will look to keep their hopes of advancing to the Euro 2016 knockout rounds alive on Saturday when they face Belgium.
Ireland opened the tournament successfully with a 1-1 draw against Group E rivals Sweden, while Belgium, considered one of the tournament favorites, dropped their opener 2-0 to Italy. The Irish may have conceded late to Sweden, but were the better side for long stretches of the match.
If the Irish are to upset the Belgians, head coach Martin O’Neill believes that they must once again be aggressive as they were against the Swedes.
“When we have possession of the ball, we play with the same confidence we did the other evening,” O’Neill told reporters earlier this week. “I mentioned this, that the other evening, the most pleasing thing is that we went and played and created chances, because we had a bit of assurance on the ball. Let’s deal with it in the same manner again.”
