27 March 2023; Kylian Mbappé of France with Nathan Collins at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. A matchup with a European giant like France is on the cards. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
The first one here speaks for itself – Spain are defending European and Nations League champions with a young squad who cruised through their most recent Nations League group. Drawing the Spaniards would be a disaster – though any of the European big-hitters would not be too far off, in truth.
The situation surrounding the draw is somewhat fortuitous for Ireland when it comes to pot two. The five-team groups will likely feature the likes of Sweden, Wales, and Norway, who would have been the toughest possible draws for Hallgrímsson and co. Nonetheless, Ukraine or Türkiye would pose a daunting mountain to climb. Ukraine defeated Ireland in Dublin in June 2022, while Türkiye impressed at this summer’s Euros.
Ireland should realistically be expecting to beat any of the teams in pot four but will have memories of the laborious pair of draws against Bulgaria early in the Stephen Kenny era in 2020.
One last time – what exactly do Ireland need to do to qualify for the 2026 World Cup?
Ireland will be drawn into a four-team group. They are a third seed, so they will have two higher-ranked teams in their group. They will play six games across the qualifying group between September and November 2025.
Each of the 12 group winners will qualify automatically for the tournament in North America. The 12 runners-up will enter the playoff phase alongside the four best group winners from this year’s Nations League who have not already qualified.
With Ireland having finished third in their Nations League B group, their only hope of reaching the 2026 World Cup is to finish in the top two of their qualifying group.
There’s a daunting task ahead for Heimir Hallgrímsson’s team – fingers crossed we’ll be celebrating success around this time next year.
SEE ALSO: Eileen Gleeson Confident Ireland Have Learned From Past Pain Ahead Of Euro Playoff
Source link : http://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=FexRss&aid=&tid=673f3cdcf4834e9eb57ef48b93bf2184&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.balls.ie%2Ffootball%2Fireland-world-cup-qualifying-draw-hopes-616378&c=7080009409453872581&mkt=de-de
Author :
Publish date : 2024-11-21 05:08:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
