PLAYING for Burnley in the Premier League, as Josh Cullen does, should be excellent preparation for battling with the Republic of Ireland.
He doesn’t like the suggestion that his club, or his country, are underdogs but who sses Burnley as likely winners when they’re up against Liverpool, Man City, Man United, Chelsea, Arsenal…
It’s the same for Ireland. Now ranked 62 by Fifa (Thursday’s opponents Portugal are ranked fifth and Hungary 37th) the Boys in Green are struggling for confidence, goals and results and Cullen, the only Premier League player outside the defence, will do all he can to help in all three areas.
“You can never go into a Premier League or an international game feeling as though you’re the underdog,” he says.
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“You always have a belief or a mentality that you’re going into a game and it’s 11 players v 11 players and you’re playing another group of men.
“You have that mentality and you build that throughout the week in preparation for the game and you build the confidence from your preparation that no matter who you’re up against you can go and beat.
“This week will be no different. People from outside the camp and outside the squad will see us as the underdogs but we put an expectation on ourselves as a group to perform well and believe that we can go and win the game. It has to be a positive mindset and that’s where we’re at right now.”
His form for Burney has been impressive this season but he was substituted in the first two games of this World Cup qualifying campaign as Ireland struggled to a draw against Hungary and then lost to Armenia.
Since then he put in an excellent shift in Portugal (1-0 loss) and was suspended for the 1-0 win against Armenia.
Without a goal in 45 caps, he has scored twice for Burnley (against Sunderland and his first club West Ham) this season and there would be no better time for him to break his duck at international level than this week.
“Of course I hope so,” he says when asked if his first goal is on the way.
“Like I’ve always said, there’s a lot of areas to my game obviously as a team it’s crucial for people to chip in and scores goals. I’ll keep doing my job as best I can in the other areas as well and hopefully, if that chances falls my way, I’ll be able to put it away and get a big goal for my country which would be great.
“To score a goal is the best feeling in football and I can imagine that scoring for your country is a level above as well. It would mean everything to me and hopefully it’s not too far away.”
Burnley’s Josh Cullen returns to the Republic of Ireland squad after being rested for summer friendlies against Senegal and Luxembourg
Josh Cullen has scored a couple of goals for Burnley in the Premier League and hopes his first for Ireland is on the way(Nick Potts/PA)
Ireland will be wary of committing too many bodies forward against Portugal on Thursday night. Even if Hungary win in Armenia, a point for Ireland will leave three between them and the ‘Magyars’ going into Sunday’s final group game and, at this stage, some might take that.
However, Thursday is a home game and sitting back and inviting pressure could well end like the game in Lisbon last month did – a late winner for Portugal. Cullen says if Ireland are positive they can have success.
“When you play against top sides, the so-called better sides in the world, sometimes their main focus isn’t the defensive side of the game,” he explained.
“So when you do get that chance to have possession I feel that there are areas that we can exploit. That’s the lesson I took away from the (Portugal away) game, from being on the pitch is that there are areas that we can exploit when we have the ball.
“And that’s taking nothing away from the great players they have, of course we know it’s going to be another great challenge and a great test for us but there is belief there that we can hurt them when we have possession and that’s the sort of mentality that we need to take into the game as well as the defensive discipline and all those defensive traits that we need to have as well.”
The absence of injured Evan Ferguson for at least the Portugal game and almost certainly the trip to Hungary too is a huge blow to Ireland’s chances. Roma striker Ferguson has scored three of Ireland’s goals but Cullen says the opportunity is there for someone else to be the hero.
“Missing Evan is a shame for us but we have other players ready to step up,” he said. “When one player misses out through injury for whatever reason we know we have a squad here with players that need to be ready to step in.
“I’m sure the boys who are thinking they might get the chance to start the game with Evan missing will be chomping at the bit and ready to go and ready to pull on the shirt and nail down their position in the team.”