Confusion reigned as to our play-off situation after the dreadfully unconvincing win over Armenia last night. But it turns out we will be seeded after all.
As a result, Ireland will face either Bosnia and Herzogovina, Montenegro, Turkey or Estonia and in the process will avoid big guns like Portugal, Czech Republic and Croatia. Thank God for that.
The draw for the play-offs will be made tomorrow at 12pm and although no team in their right mind will fear Ireland had they witnessed our stuttering victory over an Armenia side that were a man down for nearly an hour until Kevin Doyle was sent off, at least avoiding the three other seeds gives us a fighting chance of qualifying for Euro 2012 next summer.
Anyone watching RTE in the aftermath of the match last night would have been blissfully unaware of what awaited Ireland in the play-offs. Nobody seemed to know whether or not Ireland would be seeded for the play-off draw, while outside of the studio, Peter Collins seemed to confirm the identity of the other teams in the play-offs despite the fact that some games were ongoing.
It was also suggested that the seeded team would play their away matches first and home matches second, but that is also not the case. UEFA have decreed that this will be decided upon when the draw is made on Thursday. What we do know is that the first leg will be played on 11 or 12 November 2011 and the return legs on 15 November 2011. Got it? Good.
In any case, we’re in the play-offs and a relieved Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni is happy to accept whatever opponents come Ireland’s way.
“All the second-placed teams are very important. We must accept whichever team.
“The first and second teams in the table are always great teams. But I think it would be better to play the first game away and the second at home.
“We have only done 50% of the job because there is now the play-off.”
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