Match Day Thread Wales 0 v 1 Republic of Ireland

Wales v Ireland

Tournament - World Cup Qualifying Round
Date - Monday, 9 October 2017
Kick off -19:45
Venue - Cardiff City Stadium

Well, after 9 Group matches, Wales' final match in the Group is a "winner takes all" match against Martin O'Neill's Repbulic of Ireland team.

Following Serbia's 2-3 defeat at the hands of Austria, Wales still have a theoretical chance of topping the Group, although in reality, home advantage over next to bottom Georgia should see Serbia clinch top spot, and with it automatic qualification to the World Cup Finals in Russia next year.

Victory for Wales would guarantee a play-off place, as would a draw (probably), whereas the Republic must beat Wales to hope to secure a play-off place.

Wales' record in the Group to date is 4 wins and 5 draws, giving them 17 points. Whereas, the Republic has won 4, drawn 4 and lost the once to group leaders Serbia, giving them 16 points.

Wales and the Republic of Ireland have played each other on 14 occasions previously, each winning 5 matches, with 4 drawn.

One of the drawn matches was the reverse fixture in this Group, and it has to be said that Wales' hopes of World Cup qualification looked at that stage increasingly remote following that goalless draw in Dublin against the Republic of Ireland, whose captain Seamus Coleman suffered a broken leg after a wild tackle that led to Neil Taylor being sent off.

The hosts seemed content to play for a draw as their deep-lying and stubborn defence shackled Wales - and the visitors' lack of creativity and incision contributed to an underwhelming encounter.

Gareth Bale twice went close for Wales, but their task became a daunting one after 69 minutes when Taylor was shown a straight red card for his lunge on Coleman, who was carried off on a stretcher and taken to hospital.

That incident lit the fuse for a tempestuous atmosphere that appeared to inspire the Republic, but despite their push for a late winner, Martin O'Neill's side had to settle for a point and second place in Group D.

Looking ahead to Monday, I am expecting a fiercely competitive and, at times, fractious match - a typical local derby, but with possible World Cup qualification at stake. If the Welsh squad are fully recovered from their trip to Georgia them I expect them to secure a 2-1 victory. If, however, they show signs of fatigue, then I think that Ireland could sneak it - but I'd take a nervy draw.

 

This will have the tempo and speed of a PL derby.

2-0 victory and Serbia to draw their match

Whatever happens, Coleman has done another terrific job with the qualifying campaign. If someone said that coming down to the last game we'd be 2nd, 1 point behind the leaders, we'd have all taken that.

 

I agree Coleman has done a good job. A terrible decision to bring on Ben Woodburn when we needed to hold on though. Could have lead to an equaliser for them at the end.

Im sure if its the last few minutes and we need to hold on he wont make a similar mistake. Woodburn is a superb talent and certainly should come on if we need a goal. Defending and tracking back hes not what you want to see the game out.

Coleman needs to work out all scenarios. Repeat that mistake against Ireland and we could be out.

 

If we didn't qualify, would Colemans next job be us?

 

Id say Colemans next job is likely to be abroad.
.

 

Starting a week on Monday.......

 

He's much better than Clement. Don't think he'll ever manage us though.

 

He has said as much previously

 

It's going to be close either a nervy 1-1 or 1-0 to Wales

 

We have the players and we have the Manager to win this as long as we keep our marking tight and our passing accurate, I cant see it being a high scoring match myself and probably a 1- 0 will win the game.....There is so much pressure on both teams and it wont surprise me if it ends 0 - 0.......I hope not as it's hard to call and i hope home advantage will do it for us...

 

1-1

 

From the BBC:

The play-off puzzle
There's no easy way of explaining this, but here goes...

Eight of the nine European runners-up go into a two-legged play off for four places at next year's finals. That means the runner-up with the fewest points misses out.

It is important to note that results against the bottom side in each group do not count in the final play-off standings.

Therefore Greece, who are sixth, cannot improve their points tally in the final round of games because they play Group H bottom side Gibraltar. They can be overtaken by all three sides below them, including Wales and Scotland.

The ranking of second-placed teams in the qualifying groups is determined by the highest number of points. If teams are equal on points, positions are decided by goal difference, goals scored, goals scored away from home and fair play points.

Fifa says teams will be seeded for the draw on 17 October, with the top four sides according to its rankings at the time in one pot and the remaining four in another.

The teams currently in second place are Portugal (third in rankings), Wales (13), Italy (17), Croatia (18), Northern Ireland (20), Sweden (23), Denmark (26), Scotland (43) and Greece (47).

While there are clearly plenty of permutations, Northern Ireland and/or Wales could be seeded, meaning a play-off against Scotland is a possibility.



Wales, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland could join Northern Ireland in securing second place but each of those teams could still potentially be out of luck, as they can all still finish ninth in this table.

(The table has the games against the bottom team removed....I think )

 

Scotland winning in Slovenia - not good for Wales.

 

Wales will qualify no problem...It's our time...

 

Scotland now losing! Slovakia now second in that group. No idea how that affects everything.

 

Slovakia will replace Scotland in that table with 12 points, all games played.

 

2-2

 

Slovakia have 12 points with a GD of 5. (Their GD is 10 but they beat Makta by 3-1 and 3-0, so deduct 5)

So a draw would put us ahead of them on GD....... I think

 

Best result for us...

 

I think so