{"id":200190,"date":"2025-12-19T13:42:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T13:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/200190\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T13:42:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T13:42:08","slug":"irelands-play-off-opponents-czechia-appoint-obscure-manager-ahead-of-march-clash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/200190\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland&#8217;s Play-Off Opponents Czechia Appoint Obscure Manager Ahead Of March Clash"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-start=\"264\" data-end=\"460\">Czechia have confirmed the appointment of Miroslav Koubek as their new senior manager, just over three months before they host Ireland in a decisive World Cup play-off semi-final in Prague.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"462\" data-end=\"636\">The 74-year-old replaces Ivan Hasek, who was dismissed after October\u2019s shock 2\u20131 defeat to the Faroe Islands, a result that ended any chance of automatic qualification.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"638\" data-end=\"966\">Czechia finished second in Group L, six points behind Croatia, which now sets up a massive showdown with Heimir Hallgr\u00edmsson\u2019s Ireland on 26 March. If the Czechs progress, they will then enjoy home advantage again in a play-off final against either Denmark or North Macedonia on 31 March for a place at the 2026 World Cup.<\/p>\n<p>\n        Recommended\n    <\/p>\n<p>                        <a :href=\"https:\/\/www.balls.ie\/football\/article.url\" :title=\"article.title\" :aria-label=\"article.title\" class=\"not-prose col-span-2 md:col-span-1 ga-event\" data-category=\"Recommended Article Tracker\" data-action=\"click\" :data-label=\"https:\/\/www.balls.ie\/football\/article.url\" :data-value=\"https:\/\/www.balls.ie\/football\/article.url\"><\/p>\n<p>                                            <img class=\"aspect-video\" width=\"130\" height=\"73\" :src=\"https:\/\/www.balls.ie\/football\/article.image\" :alt=\"'Image for: ' + article.title\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/a><\/p>\n<p data-start=\"968\" data-end=\"1083\">Koubek, a former goalkeeper, has signed a two-and-a-half-year contract and made it clear what the mission is:<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1087\" data-end=\"1261\">We will do everything to clinch a World Cup spot. This is my task and I have to cope with it. I call it heads or tails\u2026 but I\u2019m optimistic and believe that we\u2019ll make it.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1263\" data-end=\"1631\">The veteran coach has spent most of his career working in the Czech top flight. His most recent spell was with Viktoria Plzen, a run that ended in September after a dip in domestic form. That period, however, included a strong European track record, Plzen reached the 2024 Conference League quarter-finals, and the Europa League last-16 phase this year.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1633\" data-end=\"1726\">Czechia National team general manager and Juventus legend Pavel Nedved says Koubek was always the preferred choice, despite links with former West Ham boss Slaven Bilic.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1730\" data-end=\"1816\">He was really successful in European cups in the past two years.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1818\" data-end=\"1950\">Ireland travel to Prague knowing the winner will be only one game away from travelling to the USA to face Mexico, South Africa and South Korea at the 2026 World Cup.<\/p>\n<p>SEE ALSO: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.balls.ie\/football\/thierry-henry-backs-wilfried-nancy-let-him-cook-at-celtic-646402\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">&#8216;Let Him Cook&#8217; Thierry Henry Issues Support For Struggling Celtic Manager Wilfried Nancy<\/a><br \/>\nSEE ALSO: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.balls.ie\/football\/celtic-wilfried-nancy-fourth-straight-defeat-chris-sutton-johnny-kenny-criticism-646362\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Chris Sutton Suggests Ireland Striker Sums Up Celtic&#8217;s Biggest Issues Right Now<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Czechia have confirmed the appointment of Miroslav Koubek as their new senior manager, just over three months before&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":200191,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[84986,61,60,43],"class_list":["post-200190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-czechia","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200190","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=200190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/200191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}