Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Come on England! For once
ALL eyes are on England and Scotland tonight as the outcome of their respective Group F games can impact Ireland’s play-off push.
As everyone knows by now, the worst secondplaced team from the nine qualifying groups misses out on next month’s playoffs.
And as it stands today, our Group D rivals Wales are that team.
Ireland will finish second if they beat Moldova and Wales but it may not be enough depending on results elsewhere.
But the following will go some way to helping that cause...
Tonight, Irish fans will hope that England beat Slovenia and, in particular, that Scotland get three points at home to
Slovakia.
But on Sunday, Scotland failing to win in Slovenia is also required.
Other games this weekend will have a major say.
On Saturday, Ireland want Belgium – who are already qualified – to deny Bosnia a win in
Sarajevo.
And then if Greece drop points away to
Cyprus on the same night, six-points for
Ireland will guarantee a play-off.
Simple, eh? All of this, of course, assumes that Ireland beat Moldova tomorrow. Otherwise it’s curtains. Martin O’neill said: “I’m always checking results and seeing where we stand. Let’s try win our two games and (if we do) we would be really unlucky not to make it.”