A kind draw, we just need to get there...
‘NEITHER THE POLES NOR THE SWEDES HAVE WON A BIG TOURNAMENT’
THERE may be a new look to the Euro 2020 finals but there will be a familiar feel should the Republic of Ireland qualify, as old friends, and foes, Poland will be first up at the Aviva Stadium on Monday, June 15. The nations have met 28 times, most recently in Wroclaw in September 2018, but, curiously, have never before locked antlers in the finals of a major tournament.
That will change if Mick McCarthy’s men survive an away doubleheader in March, against Slovakia and then the winners of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Northern Ireland.
They have every incentive to be at their collective best as the balls broke kindly for them in Bucharest yesterday at the Euro finals draw.
Instead of being paired with the likes of World Cup winners France and reigning Euro champions Portugal, it is Poland and Sweden who join Spain in Group E along with the play-off Path B winner.
Neither the Poles nor the Swedes have won a major tournament, while the latter’s finest hour remains the 1958 World Cup on their own turf when they reached the final, losing 5-2 to Pele’s Brazil.
At the group stage of the Euro 2016 finals, Ireland and Sweden drew 1-1. The score flattered Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Co as Ireland were the livelier team in the Stade de France and should have won.
As it was, Ireland progressed to the last 16 while the Swedes were sent packing to IKEA.
While there were more imponderables in the draw than a by-election prediction, Ireland know they will play their first two games in the Aviva, should they qualify, before facing Spain in Bilbao on June 24.
Should Ireland go boldly through to the knockout phase, trips to Glasgow (as group winners), Copenhagen (runners-up) or either Bilbao or Budapest (as third placed team) would await. D
As for Dublin’s Aviva Stadium, it will also host a third Group E game between Sweden and Poland on June 24.
There is then a potential blockbuster last-16 tie to come, between England, should they top Group D, and the runners-up of Group F, which includes Germany, France and Portugal.
England have three home games at Wembley, kicking off against World Cup runners-up Croatia on June 14, finishing against the Czech Republic on June 23 either side of facing the play-off winner from Path C, which could be auld enemies Scotland. In Group A, Wales have been banished to Baku to play Switzerland on June 13 and Turkey on June 17, before finishing against Italy in Rome.
It’s a group that gives Ryan Giggs and his crew a fighting chance of reaching the knock-out phase.
With Italy in Rome the last game in the group, Giggs admits he hopes their hosts will already have progressed to make things easier for Wales.
‘Hopefully Italy will have won all their games by then and maybe play their reserves or something,’ he added.
‘Hopefully by that time we are still in it and I don’t think it will make that much difference.’
Tickets for fans of the 20 known finalists go on sale next Wednesday – the Polish legions in Ireland will be busy, no doubt.
The Green Army will have to wait until after March 31 before knowing if they are required to mobilise for a third successive Euro finals, or not.
A comfort for four months of hibernation is that the draw could have panned out an awful lot worse.
Meanwhile, FAI sources say they expect a mere five per cent ticket allocation in the play-off final should Ireland beat Slovakia on March and play either Bosnia-Herzegovina or Northern Ireland five days later.
As Bosnia’s ground in Zenica holds just 15,600, that could be as few as 750 tickets for Irish fans, while the 18,500-capacity Windsor Park allocation would be around 950 tickets.
It had been suggested that because the play-offs progress to a final, away fans would have a far higher ticket designation than for a standard qualifier.
The FAI accounts for 2018, and details of John Delaney’s pay-off to leave the Association are due to be published next week.