Under-21s test in Croatia serves as a reminder of how far Irish game has to go

Real Madrid’s Luka Modric and Manchester City’s Mateo Kovacic are standing tall, chests out, wearing the red and white checkered shirt of their national team.

Paying for your groceries at the till, the shop assistant hands you a packet of Croatian football stickers – free with every purchase – and suddenly, this writer feels 10-years-old again.

A quick glance at the day’s newspapers tells you there is only one show in town this week, Croatia’s friendly against Portugal tomorrow (Cristiano Ronaldo and Co then face Ireland on Tuesday), ahead of their huge Euro 2024 opener against Spain on Saturday week.

The build-up to this summer’s European Championship in Germany is impossible to ignore around the streets of the country’s capital. Although they have fared better on the world stage, finishing runners-up at the 2018 World Cup before coming third in Qatar.

Before the seniors take on the Euro 2016 champions tomorrow, Croatia’s U-21 side face Ireland’s U-21s in a friendly in Vrbovec this evening, a small town about an hour’s drive east of Zagreb.

Many of the host’s players will soon make the step up to Zlatko Dalic’s senior set-up, where regular tournament qualifications are pretty much a given.

With Ireland not reaching the World Cup since 2002 and two Euros since then, Jim Crawford’s next generation won’t be expecting the same luxury at senior level.

For a country that’s smaller than Ireland, and with a smaller population, it’s another stark reminder of how far we have to go to get our house in order, how far we have fallen behind in investment and facilities.

Last week the FAI appealed to the public to contact their local representatives to ensure investment in the game is a priority of theirs, with European and local elections taking place across the country today.

For Ireland U-21 assistant Paul McShane, a simple walk around Zagreb yesterday morning drove home how far ahead this Balkan nation is. Their qualification record speaks for itself.

“Croatia are renowned for creating good footballers,” said McShane, ahead of the U-21s clash against Croatia this evening (5.0 Irish time) – the first of a friendly double-header with a test against England’s U-20s to come on Tuesday.

“I don’t know the exact ingredients they are using to be so successful, but even just going for a walk here this morning, there’s football pitches, little seven-a-side pitches, a beach football pitch, mini goals for kids. Everywhere you look it’s football, it’s dominating the country. You notice it just by walking around here.”

“I always felt that when I was younger. We went to Hajduk Split for a pre-season friendly with West Brom [in 2007], and it’s the same vibe here that I got back then. Football dominates the country.”

Six weeks ago, head of League of Ireland academy development Will Clarke made a stark presentation about how the game in Ireland lags behind Europe in both resources and staffing levels. There are 190 full-time academy staff employed in Croatian football, compared to just 10 in Ireland.

“It’s definitely something to look into. Hopefully in the coming years that can improve and Ireland can get the funding for that. By the looks of Croatia, I think they have had that. We’ll see how the election goes, hopefully [there will be] more funding,” added McShane.

While tonight’s opponents are targeting a fourth successive European Championship appearance, Crawford’s men have yet to break that glass ceiling having come a penalty shoot-out away from that achievement in the last campaign.

They currently sit second in their group, two points off leaders Italy with a game in hand, with this June double-header acting as the final preparations before a huge final four qualifiers this autumn.

“We have put ourselves in a really good position to qualify. We have got to do everything to do that,” added McShane, with Ireland and Croatia enjoying identical records so far their bids to reach Slovakia 2025 (four wins, one draw and one defeat).

“These two games are a great opportunity to look at everyone in the squad, to give players opportunities to impress, and come September, there will be good competition for places.”

“In football and in life in general, if you take your eye off the ball it usually turns around and kicks you in the ‘you know what’. We’re just taking things one game at a time.”

The hosts boast names like Los Angeles FC winger Stipe Biuk and Bayern Munich midfielder Lovro Zvonarek and are managed by Dragan Skocic, who led Iran to Qatar 2022 before he was sacked four months before the finals.

“We need these games. These are the teams who (regularly) make the competition we’re trying to make for the first time,” added Spurs ’keeper Josh Keeley, who earned a first call-up to train in the seniors last week.

“To be (senior) number one, there’s huge competition ahead of me of course, but I’m only kind of beginning my journey. Watching your country for years and actually getting called up to train for them, it was one of the best feelings.”