{"id":148096,"date":"2025-11-19T10:38:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T10:38:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/148096\/"},"modified":"2025-11-19T10:38:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T10:38:10","slug":"team-by-team-guide-to-irelands-potential-world-cup-playoff-opponents-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/148096\/","title":{"rendered":"Team-by-team guide to Ireland\u2019s potential World Cup playoff opponents \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/republic-of-ireland-mnt\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/republic-of-ireland-mnt\/\">Republic of Ireland<\/a> will be away to one of Poland, Wales, the Czech Republic or Slovakia in a World Cup playoff semi-final next March.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Those semi-finals are scheduled for Thursday, March 26th with the finals the following Tuesday, March 31st.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The draw for the playoffs will take place in Zurich on Thursday at 12pm. Ireland are in Pot 3 and as such they will be away from home against a team from Pot 2. Here is a closer look at Ireland\u2019s potential opponents.<\/p>\n<p>Wales<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Fifa World Ranking: 34*<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Manager: Craig Bellamy<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Ireland\u2019s record v Wales: Played 19, Won 6, Lost 8, Drawn 5<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Most recent meeting: Wales 1 Ireland 0; Cardiff, November 2020 (Nations League)<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Goals scored in qualifying campaign: 21 (five-team group)<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Goals conceded in qualifying campaign: 11<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"Wales manager Craig Bellamy. Photograph: Michael Steele\/Getty\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/HULVOR4JCG4CLWH3NHFXYMFRIE.jpg\"   width=\"800\" height=\"533\"\/>Wales manager Craig Bellamy. Photograph: Michael Steele\/Getty <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Wales finished their group schedule with an eye-catching 7-1 victory over North Macedonia on Tuesday night in what was a must-win fixture for the Welsh to secure a place in Pot 2 for the playoff draw, and thus guaranteeing a home semi-final. Harry Wilson, who was captain on the night, scored a hat-trick in the thumping of North Macedonia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Belgium topped Group J with 18 points, followed by Wales on 16, North Macedonia 13, Kazakhstan eight and Liechtenstein on zero.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Wales won five of their eight games, lost twice (home and away to Belgium) and had one draw (away to North Macedonia). They needed a 96th minute equaliser from David Brooks to salvage a draw in Skopje after the home side looked to have won that game with a goal in the first of the added minutes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Bellamy, who has been in charge since the summer of 2024, will be pleased with the character his side displayed at various stages over the last few months. They fell 3-0 down to Belgium in Brussels but battled back to get level late on, only for Kevin De Bruyne to score a winner with just two minutes remaining. Wales beat North Macedonia on Tuesday night without Aaron Ramsey and Ben Davies (both injured) and the suspended Ethan Ampadu. The Welsh will enter the playoffs feeling they have created some real momentum now.<\/p>\n<p>Poland<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Fifa World Ranking: 33*<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Manager: Jan Urban<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Ireland\u2019s record v Poland: Played 28, Won 6, Lost 11, Drawn 11<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Most recent meeting: Poland 1 Ireland 1; Wroclaw, September 2018 (Friendly)<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Goals scored in qualifying campaign: 14 (five-team group)<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Goals conceded in qualifying campaign: 7<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"Poland's forward Robert Lewandowski. Photograph: Wojtek Radwanski\/Getty\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/JDZVFWDRFEXOXNT2P64KYQFVXI.jpg\"   width=\"800\" height=\"533\"\/>Poland&#8217;s forward Robert Lewandowski. Photograph: Wojtek Radwanski\/Getty <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Poland only lost one of their eight group games and will enter the playoffs undefeated in their last five outings. They were the only team in Group G to take points off the Netherlands \u2013 the sides played out 1-1 draws in both Rotterdam and Warsaw. However, they lost to Finland in June and their victories over Lithuania (1-0) and Malta (3-2) weren\u2019t quite emphatic.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Off the field, there was a rocky period for Poland during the summer too with Michal Probierz forced to resign as manager following a row over his decision to replace Robert Lewandowski as captain. Lewandowski said he felt his trust had been betrayed and had refused to play under Probierz again. Following the 2-1 loss to Finland in June, Probierz quit. Urban \u2013 Poland\u2019s fifth manager since 2021 \u2013 is unbeaten since taking the reins. Lewandowski has been reinstated as team captain.<\/p>\n<p>Slovakia<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Fifa World Ranking: 46*<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Manager: Francesco Calzona <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Ireland\u2019s record v Slovakia: Played 6, Won 1, Lost 1, Drawn 4<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Most recent meeting: Slovakia 0 Ireland 0 (Slovakia won 4-2 on penalties); Bratislava, October 2020 (Euro 2020 playoff semi-final)<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Goals scored in qualifying campaign: 6 (four-team group)<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Goals conceded in qualifying campaign: 8<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"David Hancko of Slovakia. Photograph: Alex Grimm\/Getty\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/SZG4R6SOEIL3V4MJFOEAINGTN4.jpg\"   width=\"800\" height=\"533\"\/>David Hancko of Slovakia. Photograph: Alex Grimm\/Getty <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Ireland have recent playoff history with Slovakia \u2013 losing a Euro 2020 playoff semi-final in Bratislava after a penalty shoot-out five years ago. Stephen Kenny\u2019s Ireland played out a scoreless draw but lost the shoot-out 4-2 to see their hopes of qualifying for the Euros ripped apart.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Slovakia finished second in their recent qualifying group for next summer\u2019s World Cup. They amassed 12 points in Group A, behind table-toppers Germany (15). Northern Ireland (9) were third with Luxembourg (0) failing to pick up any points.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">But the group stage ended on a low note for Slovakia with a 6-0 hammering at the hands of Germany in Leipzig on Monday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">However, they beat Germany 2-0 in their opening game \u2013 their standout result in the campaign. That was followed with a 1-0 away victory over Luxembourg \u2013 where they needed a 90th minute winner. They then shipped a 2-0 defeat to Northern Ireland in Belfast last month, before a 2-0 home win over Luxembourg.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The pivotal game in the group was the 1-0 victory over Northern Ireland in Bratislava last week \u2013 where Slovakia again snatched a late win with Tom\u00e1\u0161 Bob\u010dek scoring an injury-time winner. They managed just six goals over the course of the six games \u2013 with no player netting twice.<\/p>\n<p>Czech Republic<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Fifa World Ranking: 44*<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Manager: Jaroslav K\u00f6stl (Interim)<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Ireland\u2019s record v Czech Republic: Played 8, Won 2, Lost 4, Drawn 2<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Most recent meeting: Ireland 1 Czech Republic 1; Dublin, February 2012 (Friendly)<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Goals scored in qualifying campaign: 18 (five-team group)<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Goals conceded in qualifying campaign: 8<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"Czech Republic's midfielder Tomas Soucek. Photograph: Michal Cizek\/AFP via Getty    \" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/QZAASTDYQMKFNCYMVXJTRPM26Q.jpg\"   width=\"800\" height=\"533\"\/>Czech Republic&#8217;s midfielder Tomas Soucek. Photograph: Michal Cizek\/AFP via Getty     <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">All appears not to be well in the Czech Republic. The Czech football association fired manager Ivan Ha\u0161ek last month after a shock 2-1 defeat to the Faroe Islands. Jaroslav K\u00f6stl, who had been Hasek\u2019s assistant, took charge as caretaker manager for wins over San Marino (1-0) and Gibraltar (6-0), which ensured they finished second in Group L. However, they also shipped a 5-1 defeat to Croatia during the campaign and given the teams in that group (Croatia, Czech Republic, Faroe Islands, Montenegro and Gibraltar), second place would have been the least of their expectations at the outset. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Despite the 6-0 win over Gibraltar on Monday to secure second, there was a significant fallout after the game with the reports in Prague that the players would not be receiving bonuses because they did not acknowledge supporters after that match, plus captain Tom\u00e1s Soucek is to be stripped of the captaincy for their next game. A new permanent manager is expected to be appointed before the playoffs next March.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">*The Fifa World Rankings will be officially updated later today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Republic of Ireland will be away to one of Poland, Wales, the Czech Republic or Slovakia in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":148097,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43,1842,4018],"class_list":["post-148096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-republic-of-ireland-mnt","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148096\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}