Irish manager Heimir Hallgrimsson said he was happy with the group draw for next year’s World Cup if we qualify, but Irish fans are certainly not happy about the kick-off times with almost half of the 104 games starting after midnight Irish time and four games kicking off at late as 3am. Should Ireland qualify, their opener against South Korea will kick off at 3am in Guadalajara on the night of June 11 into June 12. Their second group game against South Africa in Atlanta would kick off at 5pm on June 18, before another late-night game against Mexico at 2am on the night of June 24.
Following the group draw on Friday Irish manager Heimir Hallgrímsson said he believes Republic of Ireland would fancy their chances of qualifying from their group in the World Cup, should they progress past the playoffs. The Boys in Green were drawn in Group A alongside co-hosts Mexico, South Africa and Korea Republic.
But first, of course, Ireland must navigate the playoffs in March where they have to beat Czechia in Prague before then defeating the winners of the other semi-final between North Macedonia and Denmark at home in Dublin if they are to reach the World Cup for the first time since 2002.
Heimir said: “It’s exciting. We are not there yet, but it’s exciting to be a part of it. But it’s a beatable group if we think of ourselves in it. It’s a group we would fancy qualifying from. We were hoping to be in the USA for the Irish diaspora. I played on a couple of occasions in Mexico, in big stadiums, so hopefully we will, if we get there, have a lot of Irish fans coming. I think it’s a quite equal group in a way. It’s not like a Brazil or an Argentina that normally are favorites in the group. It was good to be in a host nation group, whether it was Canada, US or Mexico. I know Mexico playing in Mexico will always be a challenging match. But then again, very demanding fans in Mexico. Sometimes they turn on their team if it’s not going well.”
The Irish boss added, “We know we need to focus on what's ahead and keep our eye and focus on the next opponent, which is Czech Republic. We are not celebrating being here, but at least we have met some of the nations like Jamaica, who are kind of disappointed to be in the playoffs, but we are happy to be in the playoffs. Normally, I am confident. I am a positive realist, if I would say. I have said from the beginning that we are going to qualify. I’m not going to change that, but obviously it’s a little disrespectful to all the other opponents we play against until then to say when. But that’s how we have worked from day one and that is how we will keep on working. We are not going to change that. It’s going to be a big one. So, we better be ready.”
