Ireland climb to 26th in rankings

THE Republic of Ireland have jumped three places to 26th in the latest world rankings which were released by FIFA yesterday. Giovanni Trapattoni’s side continued their march up the ranking table after the 2-1 victory over Georgia in the FIFA World Cup group 8 qualifier last month.

Ireland’s group 8 forthcoming opponents, Italy, remain in fourth position while Bulgaria drop one place below Ireland to 27th.

Since Giovanni Trapattoni’s first international match as Republic of Ireland manager, the Boys in Green have risen from 42nd to 26th in the FIFA rankings with just one defeat in eight international matches, a defeat to Poland in the November friendly match at Croke Park.

Winger Damien Duff said that Ireland’s imminent FIFA World Cup qualifier against Bulgaria on March 28 would be a key battle for qualification in group 8: “Bulgaria are a very strong team and have worldclass players such as Dimitar Berbatov, Stiliyan Petrov and Martin Petrov.

“They will be disappointed with their opening three games in this campaign so they will be looking to kick-start their qualification bid under their new manager, Stoilov,” said Duff.

“At the moment, we are in a very good position with 10 points from a possible 12. The Bulgaria game will be a major factor in our group 8 fate. If we beat them, that will put us in a position where we are 10 points ahead of them in the table. From that point of view it is a massive game for us. Come October, Group 8 will be finely balanced so it is important for us to get as many points on the board as we can,” he added.

Tickets for the World Cup, Group 8 qualifier versus Bulgaria in Croke Park on March 28 are on sale from www.fai.ie and www.ticketmaster.ie