Ireland will have to buck qualifier play-off trend to get to World Cup

Trends are there to be bucked, but the Republic of Ireland must overcome a pattern of progress by seeded teams in World Cup play-off ties when they face Denmark in Copenhagen and Dublin.

Since the European play-offs were introduced in their present form for the 1998 tournament, seeded teams have advanced on 13 occasions in 19 ties (a 68% success rate).

However, at least one unseeded team has reached the final stages every four years. The first of these was Belgium, who pulled the rankings against Mick McCarthy’s Ireland with a 3-2 aggregate victory 20 years ago.