Goals coming out our ears.
We may only have scored one goal the last time out (thanks Sean St Ledger) but we are heading to France and Euro 2016 next month with several international goal machines in our ranks.
It doesn’t matter that in our previous two appearances at European Championships we have not scored more than one goal in any game; this year it’s going to be different, we promise.
We’ve come to the conclusion that Irish fans are going to have loads to cheer about next month simply because the other sides in our group are going to struggle to hit the back of the net.
After exhaustive research it turns out that we will have the most goals from any-23 man squad in our group
Italy earlier announced a training panel of 30 players, which will be whittled down to just 23 ahead of next month’s tournament.
As of Monday, there is grand sum of just 52 goals from 30 players in their current panel.
Top international scorers in Italy's 30-man preliminary squad:
De Rossi – 17
Chiellini – 6
Pelle – 4
52 int. goals between 30 players.— Daniel Storey (@danielstorey85) May 23, 2016
It’s the poorest return of any squad in our group, and is well behind Belgium whose 23-man squad can boast a grand total of 96 international goals.
Three players here share a total of 12 goals each, with Eden Hazard, Kevin De Bruyne, and Romelu Lukaku all hitting the back of the net a dozen times each.
Marouane Fellaini is surprisingly their top scorer with 15 international goals, while Jan Vertongen is their most dangerous defender, with six international strikes to his name.
The Swedes bring a 114-goal threat to the Euros, but half of that is from the boot, or head, or ego, of Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
He has scored 62 goals so far in his international career, so let’s hope he doesn’t notch number 63 against Ireland on June 13th.
If you take him out of the Sweden squad, Kim Kallstrom is the next most deadly finisher, with 16 goals in over 120 international appearances.
However, that all that means Ireland are in pole position to set the nets ablaze in France next month, as we head for the group stages with a squad that has managed 123 goals.
We’re basing our Irish squad on the 30-odd men Martin O’Neill is picking from for the Netherlands game, so that includes Kevin Doyle and Robbie Keane, naturally.
In fact, Keane, Doyle and Shane Long have scored more goals combined than the entire Italy squad.
Midfield also carries a decent threat with Johnny Walters on 10 goals, and James McClean and Aiden McGeady with five each.
So, unless O’Neill drops Keane (not likely), Doyle (possible), Long (nah) or Walters (unimaginable) we can travel to France safe in the knowledge, historically, we have scored more goals than the other squads.
Confident?
