Welcome!
Good afternoon and welcome to the Irish Independent’s live coverage of Ireland’s 2027 Women’s World Cup qualifier against Poland, with kick-off here at Lansdowne Road at 3pm.
Seán O’Connor here and I’ll be keeping you updated across all of the action from Dublin 4 as, after Tuesday’s impressive 3-2 win in Gdansk, Carla Ward’s side target back-to-back wins to all but secure third place which would bring with it a more favourable play-off route later this year.
For the Girls in Green, the state of play is clear. After opening the campaign with narrow defeats to France and the Netherlands, Tuesday’s win over Poland was a huge step forward in their ambition of sealing third place, which would also see them retain their place in League A.
Ireland are guaranteed a play-off regardless of their final place but if they finish bottom, they would face a tougher play-off against a League B side, while third-place would set up a play-off against League C opposition in October.
Poland arrive in Dublin with a point to prove after suffering their first home loss in 10 games earlier this week. They managed an impressive draw at home to the Netherlands last month, before falling to a 4-1 defeat to France in their second game of the group. Last Tuesday, Poland were ranked five places higher than Ireland but the latest FIFA rankings has the roles reversed, with Ireland now up at 22nd (a joint-high) while the Poles have dropped to 27th.
More than 18,000 tickets had been sold as of yesterday for Ireland’s sixth time to play at the Aviva – with the team’s record crowd standing at 35,944 against Northern Ireland in 2023 – as Ward’s side target another big victory on the road to Brazil 2027.
Kick-off is one hour away and we’ll have team news for you next.