Republic of Ireland drawn to play winner of Scotland v Austria in World Cup playoff

It is a chartered flight to Glasgow or Vienna for Vera Pauw’s Republic of Ireland as the path to the 2023 World Cup remains complicated.

Ireland were unlucky to miss out on a home draw in the Uefa play-offs to reach next year’s tournament in Australia and New Zealand, as they must now beat the winners of Scotland and Austria, at Hampden Park on October 6th, in a win-or-bust fixture on October 11th.

It appears likely that Ireland will also need to win an inter-confederation play-off, most likely against Senegal, who are ranked 84 in the world, on February 23rd in New Zealand.

This would be confirmed by Switzerland beating the winners of Wales versus Bosnia & Herzegovina, and Iceland overcoming the winners of Portugal versus Belgium.

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But the acid test comes on October 11th at Hampden Park or the Wiener Neustadt stadium, in a satellite town south of the Austrian capital. Tickets for Hampden’s 51,000 capacity go on sale Monday.

Scotland would be the preferred opponent as they are ranked 23rd by Fifa, just three places above Ireland, while Austria were competitive against England during qualification and Germany, who knocked them out of the Euros at the quarter-final stage.

It could have been worse, but a Tuesday night under Tallaght lights would have been ideal.

More to follow ...

World Cup play-offs Uefa draw (seeding)

Round 1 — October 6th

Scotland v Austria

Wales v Bosnia & Herzegovina

Portugal v Belgium

Round 2 — October 11th

Portugal (7)/Belgium (5) v Iceland (2)

Scotland (6)/Austria (4) v Republic of Ireland (3)

Switzerland (1) v Wales (8)/Bosnia & Herzegovina (9)

Third ranked qualifier, based on current seeding and result of second round play-offs, must win a one-off match against a non-European country in New Zealand in February to reach the World Cup.