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16 April 2019
Stephen Kenny (Ireland head coach) : “The Maurice Revello Tournament, a huge opportunity”
Ireland U21 head coach Stephen Kenny looks enthusiastic about seeing his national team competing in the Maurice Revello Tournament 2019 against Bahrain, China and Mexico.
For their first participation at the Maurice Revello Tournament since 2002, Ireland will face in this 47th edition, held from June 1 to June 15, Bahrain, China and Mexico in the group C.
Ireland head coach Stephen Kenny shared his thoughts about the group stage draw. "Bahrain, China and Mexico are all in tournaments next year for Olympic qualification so they will be taking the tournament extremely seriously. China have brought a great coach in, in Guus Hiddink (Editor’s note : former Chelsea coach) and have played 10 competitive matches since September so it shows the resources they're putting in”, he said on an interview published by the FA Ireland official website.
Who's excited for the Toulon Tournament?! 🙋♂️#IRLU21🇮🇪 manager Stephen Kenny certainly is, as he reacts to finding out Ireland will face Bahrain, China and Mexico!
— FAIreland ⚽️🇮🇪 (@FAIreland) 10 avril 2019
Watched the full interview yet? 👉 https://t.co/LCVuVR0bFE #COYBIG pic.twitter.com/E6NlcCYPUD
He added. “Mexico, traditionally, have had dynamic and impressive under-age teams, and Bahrain would be an unknown quantity to us but they've got a clear objective to qualify for Qatar 2022, as do we”.
Recently appointed as the Ireland U21 head coach, Stephen Kenny has perfectly started his tenure as he led his national team to a 3-0 win over Luxembourg in the Euro U21 qualifiers. His aim will be to help his side to improve during the next months and he thinks that the Maurice Revello Tournament will be important in this respect : "It's a huge opportunity for us as a nation to go to this tournament and compete against these nations".
As a reminder, the Ireland’s best run at the Maurice Revello Tournament was a fifth place clinched twice, in 1989 and then in 2000.
Amayes Brahmi
