World Cup qualifiers: Armenia v Republic of Ireland, Republican Stadium, 5pm Irish time
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Good afternoon, have you recovered from Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Hungary yet? We’ll just have to hope that Heimir Hallgrímsson’s men have because at 5.0 this afternoon they kick off against Armenia in Yerevan in the second game of their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign. And they could really do with a win.
Group favourites Portugal, who are away to Hungary at 7.45 this evening, dished out a 5-0 hiding to Armenia on Saturday at the Vazgen Sargsyan anvan Hanrapetakan Marzadasht, surely one of the lengthier venue names in world football? (It’s named in honour of Vazgen Sargsyan, the Armenian prime minister who was assassinated in 1999).
Ireland are ranked 45 places above Armenia in the Fifa list, so you’d think this should be a breeze. But – and apologies for the reminder – the last time they visited Yerevan, Stephen Kenny the gaffer at the time, they lost 1-0 in their 2022 Nations League meeting. And they only won the return game in Dublin 3-2 thanks to a 91st minute Robbie Brady penalty.
Sensibly, then, Hallgrímsson insisted yesterday that “we should respect Armenia – it’s like Iceland when we go to the Eurovision: we always think we have the best song, but we never go through the final”.
Ireland have only qualified for two of the last 11 Eurovision Song Contest finals, and just three of the last 11 World Cups. So we’re the last to take these things for granted.