Rachel Graham believes Poland would be the slightly more preferable opposition compared to Belgium for the Republic of Ireland if they reach the final round of FIFA Women’s World Cup play-offs later this year.

But the ex-Girls in Green senior international believes the Belgians are the more likely to come through and face Carla Ward’s side.

It comes after Ireland were pitted against minnows Kazakhstan in the first round this October. However, a tough test awaits should they negotiate that two-legged tie.

The draw for the second round put Ireland on collision course with familiar foes. They will face either Belgium or Poland in late November and early December depending which one of those sides gets the better of the other in their first-round tie.

While the the Irish side has beaten both teams within the last calendar year, they both remain strong sides and it will be a case of the proverbial pick your poison regardless of which one advances from the first round.

“It’s a hard one to call. I feel like Belgium might come out of it. I think they’re probably a little bit stronger overall from the two times we’ve played them,” Shelbourne midfielder Graham said of Belgium and Poland’s October head-to-head on the RTÉ Soccer Podcast.

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“But they’ve been in League B (of the qualifiers) and they had Scotland in their (group) and it was two draws with them.

“We’re probably on a similar-ish kind of level to Scotland, where they’re not going and beating them teams easily.

“So they’re not going to do it to us either, but look, I think it’d be a tight one. I think it would be tough to call.

“But I think probably if you had to pick one, I think I’d probably see Belgium coming through.

“It’s probably not the one I’d prefer to play. I’d rather Poland come through, just because we’ve already beaten them twice.

“I think we were the better team when we beat them. I think when we played Belgium in the Aviva, we beat them well but everyone was kind of like, ‘what’s happening here?’ It wasn’t really the norm.

“And then we obviously lost to them away, but obviously came through on aggregate.

“I think I’d rather Poland, but I have a feeling that I think Belgium are going to win (that first-round tie).”

However, Ward and her squad will not be looking past Kazakhstan in the first round. While the journey for the away leg will be taxing – as it will be for the Kazakhs coming to Dublin for the return leg – Graham expects Ireland to have too much quality for a side ranked 79 places below Ireland by FIFA.

“I don’t think we’ll probably face any issues against them,” she said.

“They’re ranked 100th in the world. Unless it’s something mad, I don’t really see us slipping up against them.

“Obviously, the travel is an issue. I think it’s an over 10-hour flight to get there. So even for supporters, if they want to go, it would take a lot to go there.

“Obviously, hard travel, but (Kazakhstan) have to do it on the flip side. But I think the quality between the two different teams, I just don’t really see us slipping up.”

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