Nagjee Cup: Shamrock Rovers takes on TSV Munich

TSV Munich played superbly to blank Argentina Under-23 3-0 at the weekend while the Irishmen began their campaign disastrously, going 0-2 down to a well-oiled Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk of Ukraine.

Shamrock Rovers coach Pat Fenlon (left) and TSV 1860 Munich coach Necat Ayguen.

In the Mahindra & Mahindra Sait Nagjee international football tournament on Wednesday, Ireland’s Shamrock Rovers meets TSV 1860 Munich, which has looked the most impressive of all the eight teams in the tournament.

The Under-21 side from Germany had played superbly to blank Argentina Under-23 3-0 at the weekend. The Irishmen though had begun their campaign disastrously, going 0-2 down to a well-oiled Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk of Ukraine.

“We would have to play better against TSV,” their coach Pat Fenlon conceded. “One of the main areas we would have to improve is the midfield.”

Shamrock could take heart from the way it played in the second half against Dnipro, in which it showed much more aggression and created several scoring opportunities. “Yes, we would have to play more like that,” said Fenlon. “We know TSV is a very tough side with talented players from their academy. But we are going to be competitive against them.”

His German counterpart Necat Ayguen said he was happy with the way his team played against Argentina. “I don’t think we are the favourites here,” he said. “And we don’t consider any particular team more challenging than the others. All the teams are pretty good and the quality of football has been pretty high.”