ROAD TO SOUTH AFRICA 2010 MAPPED OUT FOR REPUBLIC OF IRELAND

The fixture list for the Republic of Ireland's World Cup 2010 qualifying matches in Group 8 took place in the Grand Hotel in Sofia, Bulgaria, recently. Ireland was the only country present without a manager at the meeting so the football association sent a delegation containing Chief Executive John Delaney, FAI President David Blood and current caretaker-coach Don Givens.


THE CROKE PARK X-FACTOR
Final agreement on fixtures was signed off by John Delaney resulting in the Republic beginning with two tricky away ties in September and finishing off their campaign at home to World Champions Italy and then Montenegro in October 2009. The FAI was severely curtailed in their negotiations (with the Bulgarians in particular) due to the lack of availability of Croke Park as a home venue during the qualifiers. GAA headquarters was never going to be available to the FAI from June to September with the hurling and football Championships in full swing. It came as little surprise then when FAI was forced to agree to play their opening two fixtures away from home. This puts the new Irish manager, whomever that will be, under immediate pressure to deliver at worst, two away draws, before three crucial home games at Croker. The new manager currently has three friendly fixtures pencilled in before the qualifying campaign begins. Brazil will bring their samba football and carnival atmosphere to Croke Park on February 6th and Serbia visit on the 24th of May. The FAI has also rubber stamped an away trip to Oslo to face Norway on the 20th of August.


TBILISI HERE WE COME!
The Republic will travel to face Georgia in Tbilisi on September the 6th and then Montenegro on September the 10th in their opening two World Cup qualifying fixtures. Irish fans will have bitter sweet memories from the Republic's last visit to Tbilisi in 2003. Ireland won 2-1 thanks to a late Gary Doherty effort in a European Championship qualifier. The game is probably best remembered though for an incident involving a knife being thrown onto the pitch at the Irish players. The trip to Montenegro will be just as arduous. The Montenegrins begin their campaign at home to Bulgaria before the Irish visit four days later. The result of this historic opening game could prove pivotal to the Republic’s chances of qualification. Should Bulgaria slip up then the Irish will know a positive result will give them the upper hand in qualifying, albeit after only two matches.

Cyprus return to Croke Park on October the 15th where revenge will surely be on the minds of the Irish players and staff after the Cypriots previous visit to Croke Park last year. An abject Irish performance culminated in the sacking of Steve Staunton following one of the worst Irish displays in living memory. The return fixture with Georgia in February marks the first competitive fixture of 2009. Manchester City’s Martin Petrov and Tottenham’s Dimitar Berbatov will be just two members of a hugely talented Bulgarian squad set to face Ireland in Croke Park on the 28th of March. Without doubt this will be Ireland’s most important fixture in Group8 as victory here would go a long way to securing second place. The Bulgarians will no doubt view the Croke Park encounter with equal importance so a titanic battle is eagerly anticipated. Whatever the result, four days later Ireland will literally enter the lions den to face the current World Cup holders, Italy.

Unfortunately the FAI lost out to an unyielding Bulgarian FA in agreeing to fix the Bulgaria vs. Ireland return fixture in Sofia for June 6th 2009, three weeks after the Premier League season has finished. The new Irish head coach will have his work cut out to keep his squad fit, motivated and fully focused for potentially the most important match of the qualifying campaign.


REMEMBER ROME
The Republic’s two most glamorous Group8 qualifying fixtures will be the home and away ties with Italy. There is certain to be many nostalgic memories evoked from Ireland’s 1-0 World Cup quarter final defeat in Rome back in 1990 courtesy of a ‘Toto’ Schillaci effort. Expect replays of Ray Houghton’s dipping volley from the victory in USA 1994 to resurface in the days leading up to both Italian fixtures. Even at this early stage it is unlikely any other side will be able to prevent Italy from topping Group8. Current manager Roberto Donadoni is fortunate to have inherited a world class squad from Marcello Lippi prior to the 2008 European qualifiers. The former AC Milan winger managed to steer his country past France, Ukraine and a resurgent Scotland to qualify for this summer's tournament in Austria and Switzerland. Italy possess a wealth of talent at both senior and Under21 level so anything other than topping the Group would be a major surprise. Ireland's trip to Italian soil comes right in the middle of the Premiership's busy Easter period where injuries and even suspensions may become a factor. A single point garnered from this toughest of away assignments would be a tremendous result for any country let alone Ireland.


POSITIVE OUTLOOK
Let's face it, if all goes to plan in the early stages of the group then the Republic of Ireland will be (at best) playing Bulgaria for second place in Group8. Should Ireland achieve that coveted second position then a two-legged play-off against a runner up from another qualifying group would still have to be successfully negotiated before making it to South Africa in 2010. The most realistic (if not slightly optimistic) scenario will probably involve the Republic needing at least 4 if not 6 points from our final two group games at home to Italy on the 10th October and finally Montenegro four days later to secure second place from Bulgaria.

We should expect our new manager to provide Ireland with a fighting chance of claiming the runner-up spot in this group. Anything less would be a huge dissapointment especially when it comes to seeding for the European Championships in 2012. It might seem like a long time away but every single international in 2008 will have to be treated with the upmost importance to make sure the next generation of Irish soccer players have a fighting chance of representing their country at future World Cups. It all begins in earnest on the 6th of September away to Georgia. Let battle commence.



Group8 FIFA World Cup 2010 Qualifying Fixtures

6th September 2008: Georgia v Republic of Ireland

10th September 2008: Montenegro v Republic of Ireland

15th October 2008: Republic of Ireland v Cyprus

11th February 2009: Republic of Ireland v Georgia

28th March 2009: Republic of Ireland v Bulgaria

1st April 2009: Italy v Republic of Ireland

6th June 2009: Bulgaria v Republic of Ireland

5th September 2009: Cyprus v Republic of Ireland

10th October 2009: Republic of Ireland v Italy

14th October 2009: Republic of Ireland v Montenegro