Ireland\u2019s impressive 3-2 victory over the Netherlands<\/a> on Friday that Carla Ward\u2019s side have destiny in their own hands. Their objective is simple, beat France by any score and they will qualify for the World Cup in Brazil next year.<\/p>\nWhat happens if Ireland don\u2019t win?<\/p>\n
Then they will advance to the playoffs no matter if they draw 1-1 or lose 6-0 in Grenoble, which makes the game a free shot of sorts at the ultimate prize. France, however, despite leading the group, may also have to win to qualify because a draw would leave them open to being passed out by the Netherlands, who play Poland at the same time. Netherlands have a better head-to-head record against France.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1780681462154-fc175257-2434-4578-a2bd-b3fd5a9937f0.jpeg\"\/)
World Cup preview: Paul Howard, Kevin Kilbane and Malachy Clerkin pick potential winners and top playersDoes it matter which position Ireland finish in the group if they don\u2019t win it?<\/p>\n
Not really, they will be in the same path for the playoffs regardless. Third place is a likely outcome if they fail to win, with Netherlands expected to beat Poland at home. The only scenarios where Ireland finish second are if the Netherlands fail to better Ireland\u2019s result.<\/p>\n
![\"Ireland's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1780921873_243_6QP5MEV4XRB5PPXQWIMKXTN6P4.jpg\")
Ireland’s Amber Barrett scores the winner against the Netherlands. Photograph: Ben Brady\/Inpho What would happen in the playoffs?<\/p>\n
Thirty-two teams across Leagues A, B and C qualify for a playoff bonanza in the October and November international breaks, which will include two rounds of home-and-away knock-out matches.<\/p>\n
In Path 1, the runners-up and third-place teams from League A (where Ireland are guaranteed at least third place) will be drawn against the group winners and two best-ranked runners-up from League C. The League A teams will be seeded.<\/p>\n
In Path 2, the fourth-place teams from League A and the group winners from League B will be drawn against the runners-up and third-place teams from League B. The fourth-place League A teams and League B group winners will be seeded.<\/p>\n
In the final round, the winners from Path 1 will be drawn against the winner from Path 2, with Path 1 teams seeded.<\/p>\n
But Ireland avoid all that if they win on Tuesday?<\/p>\n
Correct, they would be one of only four European teams to qualify automatically for the tournament. It would be an incredible achievement to do so in a tough group including two teams who were in the top 10 of the Fifa world rankings when qualification began. By comparison, the men\u2019s World Cup had 12 automatic qualifiers. If Ireland won, they would be planning their trip to Brazil while teams the quality of England, Norway and Sweden would likely be fretting over playoffs.<\/p>\n
What is the team news?<\/p>\n
Star midfielder Denise O\u2019Sullivan is back from suspension after missing the game against the Netherlands. She will likely take Ruesha Littlejohn\u2019s place in the team, while a decision has to be made by Ward between Emily Murphy and Abbie Larkin in the starting line-up. Murphy has been impressive in qualifying but Larkin was one of the top players in the defeat of Netherlands on Friday. Leanne Kiernan was sent off in P\u00e1irc U\u00ed Chaoimh so will miss the game.<\/p>\n
What are their chances?<\/p>\n
Even the most optimistic Irish supporter would concede is a very tough ask to beat France away. France have won all seven of their eight previous encounters with Ireland, and beat Ireland earlier in the campaign in Tallaght. Their team features several world-class players including Selma Bacha, Sakina Karchaoui and Melvine Malard. <\/p>\n
But nobody expected the Irish men\u2019s team to beat Portugal and Hungary to qualify for the playoffs last autumn. An underdog win against the Netherlands will have given the team momentum, and in Amber Barrett they have a supersub capable of a big moment off the bench.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Who is playing, when and where? The Republic of Ireland will play France in their final game of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":488959,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[18999,61,60,19002,43,18998,176619],"class_list":["post-488958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-carla-ward","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-katie-mccabe","tag-news","tag-republic-of-ireland-wnt","tag-women-s-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488958","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=488958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488958\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/488959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=488958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=488958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=488958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"2027](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/AT232OAZZNCHZBAOQPFUUT2PMQ.png\")
2027 Uefa World Cup qualifying Group A2 What does that mean then for qualification purposes?<\/p>\n