Nathan Collins always believed Troy Parrott could shine on biggest stage
By Damian Spellman, Press Association, Prague
Nathan Collins always knew Troy Parrott had the potential to be a star as they grew up together in the Republic of Ireland ranks.
On Thursday evening in Prague, the 24-year-old AZ Alkmaar striker will attempt to fire his country one step closer to a first World Cup finals appearance since 2002 when they head into a play-off battle with the Czech Republic at the Fortuna Arena.
Parrott’s five-goal salvo in November – a double in a 2-0 home win over Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal and all three, the last of them with the final kick of the game, in a 3-2 victory over Hungary in Budapest – extended a campaign which had looked to be dead and buried.
But his heroics came as no surprise to Brentford defender Collins.
Collins, 24, told a press conference: “I’ve played with Troy for many years now. He’s always been a really good footballer.
“In football, sometimes, it doesn’t click on the pitch. That doesn’t take away from being a good footballer, from understanding the game or knowing how good he is.
“There are loads of different variables and reasons as to why he might not be clicking at that time.
“But there has always been a footballer in Troy. I am so happy now that it is shining and showing how good he is.”
Parrott, who began his career at Tottenham but made only a handful of senior appearances during a spell which saw him loaned out to Millwall, Ipswich, MK Dons, Preston and Dutch club Excelsior before securing a £6.7 million switch to AZ in July 2024, has 33 goals to his name for club and country so far this season.
With fellow frontman Evan Ferguson currently recovering from ankle surgery, which would almost certainly rule him out of the finals, the pressure will be on the former Spurs marksman to continue his rich vein of form.
Should Ireland win in Prague, where they will be without suspended defender Liam Scales and injured midfielder Josh Cullen, they would face either Denmark or North Macedonia in Dublin on Tuesday night, with a trip to the United States, Canada and Mexico on the line.
It would be a first appearance on the biggest stage of all since Mick McCarthy took his team to Japan and South Korea 24 years ago.
Assistant head coach and much-decorated former Manchester United star John O’Shea, who had just turned 21 at the time, did not make the squad for that adventure and knows from personal experience how infrequently these chances come along.
When asked about that O’Shea, who was famously denied a trip to the 2010 finals by Thierry Henry’s handball in Paris, said with a smile: “Lovely, hit me where it hurts.”
He added: “I’ve been very fortunate in my career but to have represented Ireland in a World Cup would have been a dream scenario.
“Touch wood, we’re not far away from, in a sense, the next best case. It’s the next best thing for me to be on the coaching side of it. It’s an incredible honour.”
