John Fallon: Reasons for Irish fans to be cheerful on tournament roadmap
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Heimir Hallgrímsson seemed overly confident after Friday’s World Cup qualifying draw and Séamus Coleman will be entitled to feel likewise when he bumps into Dominik Szoboszlai.
The pair are neighbours in a leafy Liverpool suburb but adversaries across the Mersey divide; both are now on the hunt for a place at the Stateside 2026 extravaganza.
Ireland and Hungary will share a group with one of Portugal or Denmark, the latter favourites to win their Nations League quarter-final in March.
Whichever nation emerges, it’s fair to say the three competitors will be scrambling for two places.
Top spot secures a direct route to the tournament co-hosted by US, Canada, and Mexico, with the runner-up entering the playoffs.
Uefa’s method of deciding the three extra places granted to Europe in the 48-team event is to increase the automatic tickets and merge their playoff series with the Nations League into a 16-team shootout for the final four places.
In reality, this is Ireland’s likeliest avenue into a first World Cup for 24 years.
Denmark would present a better option of snaffling points than a Cristiano
Ronaldo-led Portugal laced with gold dust throughout their team.
Hallgrimsson did note how the Iberians must compromise certain traits to facilitate the inclusion of their ageing legend but his Iceland background also informs him of the difficulty Denmark tend to pose.
Which circles us back to Szoboszlai and his Magyars.
Once Switzerland were drawn in a four-team group, the pre-draw prediction of Ireland also avoiding one of the larger five-nation pools was confirmed.
Slovakia, Sweden, Greece, and Turkey were the other potential second seeds to be pitted against Ireland.
One or two might seem preferable to Hungary but their top seeded team were equal, if not better, than Portugal.
Hungary are a solid, consistent outfit. They’ve been within Fifa’s top 50 for the past four years, rising to 26 earlier this year and now sitting in 30th place.
Three successive appearances at the European Championship finals illustrate a team capable of both holding their own with exalted company and seeing off seeds positioned below.
That they were declared the eighth best team across 55 in the 2022 Nations League validated their reputation. Beating England twice, including a 4-0 romp away, enhanced it.
And yet arguably their spine is creaking.
Szoboszlai is undoubtedly a generational talent, the 24-year-old’s balance and poise a vital ingredient of Liverpool’s surge to the Premier League summit.
As Ireland know well from Cristian Eriksen’s hat-trick in the 2018 World Cup playoff, a solitary world-class standout can be decisive.
Caoimhín Kelleher and Evan Ferguson are developing to a stage whereby they are being spoken of in global terms. By September 6, when the campaign kicks off with Ireland hosting Hungary, the duo could be at different clubs and featuring on a regular basis.
Respect eluded Marco Rossi when he dismissed Ireland as “nothing special” after losing a June friendly between the sides to a late Troy Parrott goal, but the same could be said of his squad, besides Szoboszlai.
Goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi will be 35 when the teams square up and the rest of the regular defenders — Attila Fiola, Willi Orban, and Endre Botka — are also on the wrong side of 30.
Age is catching up too on Adam Nagy in midfield and attacker Barnabas Varga. Much of the attacking workload has been heaped on Roland Sallai.
Rossi has been six years at the helm but this is considered his sticky patch, a disappointing Euros followed by a Nations League series resulting in a March playoff — can they avoid defeat to Turkey and relegation to League B?
The manager’s refusal to dismiss links to the Poland vacancy hasn’t endeared him to a fanbase which tends to pack out the 60,000-seater Puskas Arena. It’s where Szoboszlai’s 99th-minute penalty secured a draw against Germany and the scene of the final group game next November.
Should Ireland dodge replicating slip-ups against Armenia, and maybe extract a point from the top seeds, that showdown screams of jeopardy for Ireland.
Hallgrimsson will have had 10 games in the job over a year before the qualifiers get under way, sufficient time to finetune his selection and tactics.
His bold prediction of qualification was immediately scoffed at by fans weather-beaten by disappointment but perhaps his fresh eyes and ears, coupled with worldly experience of levels, fuelled his optimism.
That wasn’t the emotion anybody felt immediately after the last outing four weeks ago — a 5-0 drubbing at Wembley — but this draw, on top of the news of Euro 2028 co-hosting participation being a near certainty, has brightened the short- and medium-term outlook.
A Christmas cracker against Chelsea for Shamrock Rovers tomorrow might be perceived as a festive fairytale but one player visualised the scene eight years ago.
The 55th and final game of 2024 for Rovers will likely be Neil Farrugia’s final game, given the interest from UK suitors.
His Conference League phase campaign began with a red card against APOEL but the flying winger bounces into Stamford Bridge meeting with the Premier League title contenders.
“We’re going to go after Chelsea and look to get at least a point over there and see where that takes us. I’m a big Chelsea fan — following them since I was a kid — and even turned by Dad into one,” said the ex-Ireland U21 international.
“We’ve been over to Stamford Bridge three times. I remember posting that picture as a kid and I’ll now be playing there.”
Some day was the caption. Not wishful thinking, as it’s transpired.
Like Chelsea, the Hoops are unbeaten heading into their final game. February’s playoff is already bagged, but a result against the Blues would likely seal a direct window into the March last-16 ties.
“We’re going to look for at least a point and see where that takes us,” declared Farrugia.
“We’ve done the hard work so to speak and feel, not relaxed, but just that we can enjoy the game.”
Whereas the former head of women’s and girls’ football had brokered a fallback arrangement if her stint as senior team manager went awry, it seems she won’t be returning. That the association or Gleeson refused to comment on this unusual situation during her year at the helm deep-ened the absurdity but events and consequences have superseded.
When Ireland’s Euros qualification perished after failing to beat an unseeded Wales over two legs, the second at home, questions over management competency were valid and justified.
Rather than prolong her tenure through a facile Nations League B campaign, the FAI acted within a week last Wednesday.
Gleeson’s assistant Colin Healy hit out through his agent at being discarded, highlighting loyalty shown amid two alternative offers. One of those is believed to have been the Cobh Ramblers vacancy, eventually filled by Mick Mcdermott. He, along with goalkeeping coach Emma Byrne, were contacted immediately after Gleeson to be told of the axing first-hand.
Early days yet in the search for a successor. Should another FAI delay occur, U19 manager Dave Connell is ideally placed to assume caretaker charge for the February games against Turkey at home and Slovenia away.
Email: john.fallon@examiner.ie