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Sports News of Tuesday, 10 March 2020

Source: www.mynigeria.com

Euro 2020 play-off: Playing behind closed doors "will be really weird" - John Anderson

Mick McCarthy - Ireland national team head coach Mick McCarthy - Ireland national team head coach

Former Irish defender, John Anderson has admitted that playing their Euro 2020 play-off semifinal without the Irish fans "will be really weird."

This is coming moments after their opponent, Slovakia, announced that the March 26th fixture billed for at the Narodny Futbalovy Stadion in Bratislava will "take place behind closed doors" due to coronavirus outbreak.

“Does it give us more of an opportunity, more of a chance? I would probably say no because you want an atmosphere in the stadium and you want Irish supporters there as well,” he said.

“The support that travels away and the noise that they make, it’s a huge help, but not having anybody there at all, I think it will feel really, really strange. It will be really weird.

“Saying that it’s probably the same for both sides. It will feel really, really strange for both teams to actually turn up in an empty stadium.”

Anderson also revealed that the Slovakia game will test experience of this Irish crop of players and his one-time Republic team-mate and current boss Mick McCarthy.

He said: “I don’t know how you prepare players for this because I don’t think it something that Mick will have ever experienced either.

“You can’t really turn around and say, ‘Look, it’s going to be like a training game’, because you say that to players and all of a sudden, that mentality gets in your head.

“I suppose he’ll say, ‘Look, there’s a huge carrot dangling here. I know there’s going to be no crowd here, but we all know what’s riding on this. It’s a huge opportunity for you boys to go and play in a major finals. This is the first step towards it and if you want it, you have got to go and you have got to handle that situation’.”