Hallgrimsson: England want to win the World Cup, we want to qualify
Republic Of Ireland Heimir Hallgrimsson during a press conference at Wembley Stadium. Pic: John Walton/PA Wire.
Heimir Hallgrimsson wants his Ireland team to exploit England’s weaknesses as he uses the final Nations League as a dress rehearsal for the World Cup qualifiers.
Ireland already know their tilt at reaching the 2026 showpiece won’t start until next September due to their playoff in March to avoid relegation to League C of the Nations League Sunday’s fixture at Wembley (5pm) is the first competitive game between the nations drew 1-1 in 1991 but this time England are overwhelming favourites.
“Of course, we know what kind of threat England gives us and if we are not ready from the first minute, they will punish us,” the Ireland manager said at Wembley during his prematch press conference.
“That kind of happened in Dublin in September - they made a pass through the centre of our team, easy goal.
“It’s a team that if we give them a chance they will probably take it. They have such an attacking quality in that team, but there are weaknesses as well so we are going to try to exploit them.”
Improvements have been made since, especially through home and away wins over Finland, and that must translate into points if they’re to avoid the tournament famine extending beyond a decade since Euro 2016.
“If you think about what the media and the federation are saying, we really, really want to qualify for the World Cup finals.
“England have hired a new coach for the qualifiers next year and they want to win the World Cup, so that is kind of the difference where we are at this moment.
“If we want to qualify as third seeds, we know we will have two nations above us in the FIFA rankings, two seeded teams above us.
“We’ll need points against the big nations at home or away, so this is a good dress rehearsal for that campaign that starts in September.”
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