OTB Football
FOOTBALL DAILY: Ward names WCQ squad, Mourinho locks horns with Madrid once again and Ireland youngster to make the move to Norwich
17 Feb 2026
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Off the Ball, GAA.
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Off the Ball's Football Daily. Hello and welcome to Tuesday's Football Daily. I'm Phil Egan. Coming up today, Carla Ward names her Ireland squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers. We look ahead to tonight's Champions League action as Jose Mourinho's Benfica lock horns with Real Madrid once again.
Keith Andrews' Brentford avoid an FA Cup upset and Frank Lampard's Coventry record a big win over fellow promotion chasers Middlesbrough. But first today, Carla Ward has named her squad for the World Cup qualifiers that come to France and away to the Netherlands next month. The Ireland boss has selected a squad of 23 players.
Courtney Brosnan, Megan Connolly and Leanne Kernan are all back after they missed the Nations League playoff win over Belgium last October due to injury. Heather Payne misses out despite returning to action with Leicester last weekend after recovering from an Achilles problem. Ireland's first game of the campaign is against France at Tala Stadium on the 3rd of March.
Four days after that then it's an away match against the Netherlands. Carlo Ward spoke to the media in Abbottstown earlier on.
Let's be really honest, if France and Netherlands is a World Cup final, we're all thinking it's a very good final, aren't we? Because they're going to be two teams that, in my opinion, are favourites going into, you would imagine that they bake the World Cup. I think that you'd imagine both of them to be at the latter stages, if not trying to win it. We're under no illusion.
Let's be really honest, we're the underdogs. It's an Irish mentality that the nation loves. We thrive off that. Playing against the very, very best, competing against the very best, I think it puts us in a position to see where we are and challenge.
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Chapter 2: What squad did Carla Ward name for the World Cup qualifiers?
I've been at clubs and now here where we have to get the one percenters everywhere because we are coming up against some really strong composition. We'll relish that and we'll look forward to it.
Real Madrid and PSG are both in action tonight in the Champions League play-off round. Just 19 days after Anthony Truman's 98th minute header sent Benfica into the play-off round and goal difference at the expense of Marseille, the two-time European champions meet Real again in Lisbon.
Chapter 3: What are the key details of the Champions League match between Benfica and Real Madrid?
Benfica finished 24th to take the last place for the play-off round. Madrid finished in 9th, one place and one point outside the automatic qualification spots for the last 16 minutes. Alvaro Arbeloa will have to do without Rodrigo and Jude Bellingham due to injury and suspension. There's an all-French clash in Monaco this evening.
The team from the Principality take on holders PSG who won 10-0 over two legs against another French side Brest in the playoff round last season before they went on to win the trophy. Borussia Dortmund take on Atalanta in their play-off tie in Germany tonight.
Chapter 4: How did Brentford avoid an FA Cup upset against Macclesfield?
Dortmund have just one win from their last seven Champions League games against Italian sides. They've drawn three and lost three. All those games I mentioned kick off at 8 o'clock. First up at 5.45, Galatasaray are at home to Juventus. Luciano Spalletti's Juve side were controversially beaten by rivals Inter at the San Siro over the weekend.
Troy Parrott scored another goal for Azed Alkmaar last Saturday, his 12th league goal of the season. It came away to his former club Excelsior in injury time and Azed went on to score a few minutes later to move back into the top six in the Eredivisie.
Former Ireland international Kevin Colban joined Owen Sheehan on the football show last night and like every other football fan from Ireland at the moment, he says he's keeping a close eye on Parrott's exploits.
I'd be like you.
Chapter 5: What are the implications of Ireland's World Cup qualifiers against France and the Netherlands?
I'm taking it all in, whether I'm on Twitter or whether I'm on Instagram and I'm seeing a Troy Parrott goal or a Troy Parrott assist. I'm taking it all in. I'm milking it for all it's worth because, look, he's done remarkable things in the last year with club and country. And I think that he's been heavily linked, hasn't he, with a return to the Premier League. I've seen Everton this season.
I've seen Leeds this season. I've seen various teams. And that you'd naturally think is going to be the next step for him. But that might not necessarily be the case. I'm sure that he's enjoying himself away from... I wouldn't say the limelight because he's so high profile for us now. But I think he's probably enjoying himself playing in Holland and he's found his feet, he's found himself.
And I've not read the piece, but I've seen quotes from it, from what he was saying or where he said, look, I was a young player at Tottenham. I felt as though that I should have been playing. I was maybe believing the hype a little bit as well. And...
We build our players up in Ireland especially that a lot of the casual football fans would know of a 14 or a 15-year-old that's progressing and doing well, whether that's in the League of Ireland or whether they're over in England and they're Irish eligible. We know all about these players now because of the...
rightly or wrongly the the the platform that we're giving our players is great i think we boost them up and we build them up but that that can be a deterrent to the player's development it really can and i think troy parrot is the prime example of that i knew of troy parrot when he was about 14 he's maybe younger than that to be honest with you i heard this name coming out of dublin that this kid is sensational when he signs for spurs and you know he's scoring goals in um the the the youth the champions league youth structure i can't remember what it's actually called
he's scoring goals in the youth structure at Tottenham and of course then within a second tier level then he's been pushed forward to make his first team debut and you're all looking at him and it's such a big step from youth football into first team football beyond especially Premier League level so he's had to go away and find himself and he's had to learn he's had to maybe even focus on himself mentally in certain ways as well and
I don't think he can be more proud of himself for what he's achieved in leaving English football and going away to somewhere that would have been alien to him and proving himself. At the level he's proved himself at, an international level, he's one of our true success stories. That's the way that I would look at Owen. And if he goes back and plays in England, good luck to him.
But he doesn't necessarily even have to take that step. If he went to Serie A or Bundesliga or wherever, that might be a great step for him to take next. And I think that'll help his development just as much as returning to the Premier League.
If you want to hear more of that conversation you can do so now in your OTB football podcast feed.
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Chapter 6: What can we expect from the Champions League playoff matches tonight?
I'm not sure if you saw this, but it was a photo of you playing against Israel in Lansdowne Road in qualifiers for the 2006 World Cup that came up. Can you guess what the photograph was of, Kev? Can you guess which flashpoint from that game might have popped up?
I think I saw it. I think it's the goalie, wasn't it? It was me and the goalie from that game, wasn't it? I remember it well. Remember it well, honestly, because that was a killer game for us. Those two Israel games ultimately cost us a place at what was it, Owen? What was the year? 2006 World Cup, wasn't it? Yeah. I think that's what ultimately cost us the place at that World Cup because...
We should have taken probably six points from both games and we ended up with two. And 2-0 up, particularly in the home game, we were 2-0 up early, we were playing well. I think Robbie Keane got injured in the game, actually, and went off. And it just threw us all, I think, really. Look, I can look at excuses across the course of my career.
I don't think we qualified for enough tournaments while I was playing international football and it's a huge regret. But those Israel games in particular, I always remember that keeper and the play acting. And it was very much around that sort of time as well where... It wasn't the norm, play acting. It was there, of course it was, but you didn't see it as so much in your face.
That game in particular, the time wasting, the play acting, anytime anyone touched him, rolling around the floor, trying to get our players sent off. I just remember it being... It was one of those games where you look back on and you think, Jesus, if we'd have just...
maybe better manage that game over periods of time we would have won that game easily and we would have probably beat them over in Israel as well if we hadn't have managed those games better so big regret Owen from the two games absolutely yeah What was the thing that sparked the confrontation between yourself and Dudu Awad you mentioned the time wasting there Yeah, it was overall.
I just remember every time one of our guys went near him, he was going down holding his faith. He was rolling around. Any chance he got to kill time, but also the fact is he was trying to get our boys sent off as well. So I think it was just me and him having a little bit of a pop and just me just trying to tell him, look, get up or you'll get a slap or something like that.
I think that's how it was. Something along those sort of lines. I might have said it a little bit different from that to him, yeah.
Granted, it was over 20 years ago, but what was it like playing in Tel Aviv?
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Chapter 7: How is Troy Parrott performing in the Eredivisie?
They have a pretty potent attack.
He's only 25 years of age, Colin Whelan, so I guess last season was getting back in the pitch, getting minutes into his legs, and this is when you'd expect him to really try and get back to his best or finally show the potential that people know is attached to him over the past couple of seasons.
And if you want to hear that or any of our League of Ireland coverage, including the LOI pod, you can do so for free in your OTB Football podcast feed. That's about all we have time for in today's Football Daily. I'm Phil Egan. I'll be back with more tomorrow.
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