Heimir Hallgrimsson: Bulgaria an 'okay draw' for Republic of Ireland's Nations League play-off

Republic of Ireland head coach Heimir Hallgrimsson arrives at Wembley before the England fixtured. Pic: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

Heimir Hallgrimsson says that a pairing with Bulgaria in next March’s Nations League promotion/relegation tie makes for an “okay draw”, with the Republic of Ireland manager predicting a tight and low-scoring affair.

The Icelander was present for the draw at Uefa’s Nyon offices just before noon on Friday when the Boys in Green were pitched in with the Bulgarians and avoided Armenia, Kosovo and Slovakia, who were the other three possibilities.

Win the two-legged tie and they stay in Group B.

The first match will be played away from home on Thursday, March 20 with the return leg, thanks to Ireland’s higher seeding, reserved for the following Sunday, March 23, at the Aviva Stadium.

“Bulgaria is an okay draw. It's not my favourite, it's not the worst. Slovakia was the highest Fifa-ranked team and everyone would like to avoid them. Yeah, it's probably going to be an equal game like most of these set-ups.

“[Bulgaria] were in a group with Northern Ireland and if I remember correctly they lost 5-1 [it was 5-0] in Belfast but that is kind of an outlier in all the results.

“They had four clean sheets in that group and somebody had told me Ireland had them in the group in 2020 and it was two draws. You would expect a low-scoring game when you look at the goals and statistics.” 

Ireland have never played below Group B in the Nations League despite some atrocious results and finishes in previous incarnations of the tournament, but Hallgrimsson’s priority remains the World Cup qualifiers which will kick off for the team next September.

There is even a theory out there that relegation to the third tier of the Nations League might be no bad thing for a side that is still trying to find itself under a new manager and one that has found wins hard to come by for some years now.

“Well, it's different opinions as to how important it is to be in League B. Some say it's even better to be in Group C to have more chances of winning games.

“My opinion is that you should always play the stronger team and try to improve that way. That's my opinion and I think it's important that if we want to try to qualify for finals it's always better to play better teams than not.” 

Hallgrimsson agreed with the common perception that playing at home in the second leg will be an advantage for his side and he is hoping to use the months between now and then to reflect on the first three windows in charge of the side.

There are plans to meet players but he is hoping that time will also be a good healer after the side’s traumatic 5-0 defeat to England last Sunday when they squandered a fine first-half effort by collapsing after Liam Scales’ red card and Harry Kane’s penalty opener.

The hope is that more of his players are playing first-team football by the time the January transfer window is closed but Hallgrimsson made the point that players would make those decisions regardless of what their national boss might say.

He will have to work with what he has, as is always the case.

Injuries have played a role in selection up to now too. Ireland used 31 players across their six Nations League games to date in 2024. Only five featured in every game with just three of them constant starters.

Hallgrimsson has spoken before about his hopes of fielding a more settled side as he progresses, and he has made some squad and team selections in the last few months with the expressed aim of making that happen come the World Cup qualifiers.

The draw for that particular tournament is next month and the Ireland boss does admit to feeling more sure as to the players and the systems and structures he intends to use going forward now.

“I feel so. Now, saying that after a 5-0 loss is always kind of strange, but if I look at the second half against England as an outlier, I think we have taken good steps ... I needed contact time with the group, with the squad, to try to find the players who will fit how we want things to be done.

“So the number of players [used] is probably according to what I expected in the beginning. Obviously always it’s better to do a bigger camp with the players at the beginning and select from there but this was how it was.

"I think we used it wisely. We didn’t do a lot of changes but there was always some changes so there is a little stability as well. This is how we go forward.

“My contact time with the players [so far] is three weeks - three weeks and two days or something - so it’s not much. As a coach what you can do in three weeks.

“It’s good it was September, October, November. It was a continuity in what we were saying and our message was pretty clear in my opinion and the players now know what we expect, and they probably know more why we select in the future these players, but not these players.”