Soccer: Ireland opponents narrowed down to two

The Republic of Ireland will face either Iran or the United Arab Emirates in a play-off for a place in next summer’s World Cup finals in Japan and South Korea.

The Iranians had an appeal to FIFA that Bahrain - who beat them 3-1 yesterday - had fielded ineligible players against them thrown out tonight, thus confirming that Saudi Arabia had qualified automatically and would not face the Irish in a two-legged play-off.