The Tottenham youngster had a big moment in only his second international appearance as the Republic of Ireland gave Canada a World Cup warm-up
Mason Melia was denied the opportunity to send the perfect summer message to Roberto De Zerbi as he saw a big chance saved late on in the Republic of Ireland’s 1-1 draw in Canada.
The 18-year-old striker is so highly rated in his homeland that he was called up by Heimir Hallgrimsson to make his senior Irish debut before he has even been in a matchday squad for Tottenham. After just a couple of minutes late on in the friendly win against Qatar in Dublin last week, Melia experienced his first transatlantic trip with the senior team as they eventually gave Jesse Marsch’s Canada side a tough World Cup warm-up game in Montreal on Friday night.
Ireland struggled in the first half against their hosts and former Spurs forward Troy Parrott flicked a Canadian corner on and it hit Jake O’Brien and bounced in for an own goal. The visitors reorganised and improved in the second half and while Parrott’s 59th minute penalty was saved, Chiedozie Ogbene nipped in ahead of him to ram home the rebound to level the match.
Melia made his entrance in the 70th minute and had a huge chance to win the friendly game 12 minutes later. As the Irish broke up the pitch, an Ogbene ball from the right fell perfectly to the teenager in the Canadian box after Niko Sigur made a mess of his clearance and completely missed it.
The Spurs youngster reacted quickly, controlling the ball with his right foot before hitting a low shot that the hosts’ diving goalkeeper Max Crepeau did well to get a hand to and then gathered at the second attempt, leaving Melia with his hands on his head as his first senior international goal eluded him on this occasion.
“That’s just football. You get your chances and he got his because he’s a willing runner,” said Hallgrimsson. “He went in behind and all of a sudden he was one on one with the keeper Sometimes you score. Sometimes you are the hero.”
Melia, who joined Spurs in January from St Patrick’s Athletic after the deal was agreed last year, had needed to overcome a back issue and a chest infection before finally getting to work at Tottenham in April for the club’s U21s. Despite his age, he had played 98 senior games for St Pat’s before arriving in north London, scoring 25 goals and providing eight assists, so he is well aware of the physicality of the men’s game.
After his Irish debut last week the teenager was left buzzing by the sudden rise in his career.
“It was a surreal moment to come on, even though it was short but I had all my family there and it was a dream for me to make my debut, especially in the Aviva, so buzzing,” Melia told RTE. “It shows there is a path if you prove what you can do on the pitch in League of Ireland, you’re going to get your chance. There’s a lot of LOI players in the squad at the moment. But yeah, there is a chance.”
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Now Melia is aiming to impress Spurs boss De Zerbi this summer after getting involved in some of the Italian’s training sessions last month.
“When I first went over, it was quite hard,” he said. “They found a little niggle in my back, but I just had to get myself right, all the other stuff off the pitch right.
“But since I’ve been back fit, I’ve been feeling really good and obviously getting my call-up here, so something must be going well. But I’m enjoying it at the moment. I’ve been playing just to get my fitness back mainly. Scoring is always nice.”
Now Melia must wait to see whether he remains with Spurs this season or gets sent out on loan to play more minutes to help his development.
“It’s hard to say right now. I know they want me to come in, do my pre-season and pretty much go from there,” he said. “But there isn’t really a structural plan at the bottom for what my future is. I’m really open to anything. I just want to get playing.
“It’s nice for De Zerbi to see that I’ve made my international debut, but I just want to make a good impression when I get back in pre-season.”
