Irish Coach: Opponent Does Not Matter

The head coach of the Ireland national football team, Heimir Hallgrímsson, shared his thoughts with journalists after the World Cup play-off draw. In March, Ireland will face the Czech Republic. "I told my players: the identity of the opponent does not matter to me, because all the teams in the rankings are above us. Since all four teams play at home, there is not much difference in facing any of them," the coach said to *balls.ie*. "When I was coaching the Iceland national team, we played against the Czech Republic and lost there. So, I know it is a difficult place. However, as we saw in the recent match against Hungary, anything can happen." "At the moment, we have a distinctly positive mood and optimism, even though a few of our key players are sidelined. I don't know if this optimism will persist in our players' minds by March. But I know how strong the Czech Republic can be. We hope they will not reach their peak form at that time." The winner of the Czech Republic vs. Ireland clash will face either Denmark or North Macedonia in the final. Read “Zamin” on Telegram!