Ireland avoid big guns as early away ties await
After an agreeable Saturday in St Petersburg, yesterday brought less welcome news for Martin O’Neill and Ireland as the Uefa-controlled match calendar saw the 2018 qualifying campaign, like the current Euro ‘16 route, front-loaded with away games.
Ireland will be on the road three out of four times next year, heading to Belgrade to play Serbia away in the first qualifying game on September 5, 2016 and, after just one home game against Georgia – hardly what the depleted FAI coffers would have been crying out for – travelling again to play Moldova in October and Austria in November.
On paper at least, 2017 will be kinder, the competition resuming with back-to-back home games against Wales and Austria, in March and June respectively. After that, qualification enters the home straight with big double-headers involving Georgia in Tbilisi and Serbia in Dublin in September before climaxing the following month with Moldova coming to the Aviva and, in what could turn out to be a decisive final game for both sides, a trip to the Millennium Stadium to play Wales on October 9.
Unlikely first seeds, the emergence of the Welsh from Pot 1 to complete Group D was, by some distance, the biggest break Ireland got in Saturday’s draw in Russia. That’s not to denigrate what Chris Coleman has achieved with his Gareth Bale-inspired side in their current European Championship campaign but merely to state the obvious that it could have been a whole lot worse given the alternatives included bona fide superpowers like Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and Portugal.
As possible top seeds, England, though serial qualifiers, would have been seen as a more enticing prospect than most, with Ireland’s proven capacity for raising their game against our dear neighbours reflected in a healthy record against them in the modern era. The chance to put one over the ‘auld enemy’ also explains why the reaction in Scotland to drawing the Three Lions in Group F has been nothing less than celebratory.
Ireland could hardly complain either about the second seeds in their group. Austria – even if they did bring the curtain down on Giovanni Trapattoni’s Irish reign – are a much less daunting opponent than either Italy or France.
As it turned out, the Italians were paired with the Spanish in Group G, and the French with the Dutch in Group A, not only making for the kind of mouth-watering, heavyweight clashes we normally see reserved for the finals but, with only the group winners automatically qualifying for Russia, also serving to reinforce just how treacherous the play-offs could be should Ireland end up having to try to secure qualification through the side door.
But, of course, we’re getting way ahead of ourselves here, and much – not excluding the identity of Ireland’s manager – could well have changed in the 13 months before a World Cup ball is kicked in anger.
Serbia, for example, might currently be propping up their Euros qualifying group but, as newly crowned U20 world champions, they will have hopes of reclaiming lost ground between now and September of next year when they will host Ireland in the opening World Cup qualifier in Belgrade.
Georgia, of course, need no introduction, this coming September’s meeting in the Euros in Dublin now doubling as a World Cup dress rehearsal. At least next time around, Ireland will have the advantage of playing them at home first, after that laboured win in Tbilisi last year confirmed the impression that supposed minnows tend to be at their strongest on their own turf early in a campaign.
The mandatory ‘tricky away assignment in eastern Europe’ slot will be filled in World Cup qualifying by a first-time trip for Ireland to Moldova in October 2016. The fact that Moldova currently sit beneath Liechtenstein at the bottom of Euro qualifying Group C might suggest they are cannon fodder of the Gibraltar kind but, remarkably, in the course of the same campaign, they have succeeded in holding Russia scoreless in Moscow while only going down 2-1 at home to Austria, with whom, of course, they are now set to renew rivalry.
By and large, the reactions of the various Group D managers in St Petersburg tended to emphasise relief that the biggest guns had been avoided.
“I think it’s better to be in a group like this because it leaves it wide open,” said Martin O’Neill. “If you are capable of taking points off each other then, who knows, you’ll stay in that group for a lengthy period of time.”
Welsh boss Chris Coleman was upbeat about his side’s chances. “I don’t think there’s an international team at the moment that would want to play us in Cardiff as it’s a fortress,” he enthused.
And while Austria coach Marcel Koller called it “a very balanced group” in which “all the teams are very dangerous”, it was Serbian Radovan Curcic who probably best summed up Group D for all concerned. “We have avoided a group with absolute favourites,” he said.
Meanwhile, the focus will turn to the longer-term development of Irish football today, when assistant manager Roy Keane and High Performance Director Ruud Dokter join forces to formally launch the new SSE Airtricity National U17 League at FAI headquarters in Abbotstown.
Serbia away Thursday, October 6: Georgia home Sunday, October 9: Moldova away Saturday, November 12: Austria away 2017 Friday, March 24: Wales home Sunday, June 11: Austria home Saturday, September 2: Georgia away Tuesday, September 5: Serbia home Friday, October 6: Moldova home Monday, October 9: Wales away
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
