Sweden clash the 'most important to date' for Crawford's side

Republic of Ireland Under-21s boss Jim Crawford has told his players their European Championship qualification dream lies in their own hands.

Ireland face Sweden in Boras on Tuesday evening knowing a repeat of the 1-0 victory they secured in Dublin in November would take them to within a point of the Group F leaders, on whom they have a game in hand.

Second-placed Italy are level with the Swedes on 14 points after a surprise 1-1 draw in Montenegro on Friday, and Crawford believes that result has blown the group wide open.

He said: "It's in our hands, qualification is in our hands if we can win – automatic qualification too, with Montenegro taking points from Italy the other night, so that’s certainly the aim to go and win the game.

"If we can, we go a point behind Sweden with a game in hand and that’s our target for now, so it’s a huge game. It’s probably for me the most important Under-21s game to date.

"The players know the importance of it. It’s going to be a fantastic learning environment for them, to be playing in games of this stature."

Ireland have never qualified for the finals and endured a series of near-misses, and Crawford knows how fine the margins between success and failure can be having seen his side lose 2-0 to Italy in November before Ollie O’Neill’s stoppage-time winner secured the points against Sweden.

He said: "There’s no point in looking back and being disappointed. The thing is you’ve got to look forward and learn and embrace those disappointments.

"This Under-21s team, yes it’s about development, but how you develop is learning from adversity, learning from those mistakes and kick on as an individual, as a team hopefully to qualify for the European finals.

"But as an individual, can you tidy up on little