World Cup Play-off Preview: Scotland -v- Republic of Ireland

SCOTLAND

The play-off route to claim one of the final few places at the Women’s World Cup may be the most complicated play-off system imaginable but the simple point is that whoever loses Tuesday’s game between Scotland and the Republic of Ireland will have their World Cup journey ended.

Scotland have the advantage in Tuesday night’s one-legged play-off as the home team at Hampden Park (kick off 8pm – live on RTÉ2) but they had to come through a demanding game to get here by beating Austria 1-0. Ireland, having a bye into the fixture, come into the match fresher.

It is expected there will be a record crowd for a home Scottish women’s competitive fixture, eclipsing the 10,182 who watched Scotland’s win over Austria.

The home side are the 23rd best team in the rankings and host an Ireland team who are ranked three places further back.

Unlike Ireland Scotland have tournament pedigree within their squad – having qualified for the 2017 European Championship and the most recent World Cup.

Scotland finished runners up in their qualifying group behind Spain who beat team 2-0 and 8-0.

Ireland and Scotland have played each other in 13 World Cup or European Championship qualifiers with Scotland winning eight times and Ireland three but the sides haven’t faced each other in competitive action in a decade.

Chloe Arthur played in the most recent match, a 1-0 home win for Scotland in a friendly ahead of the Women’s EURO 2017 tournament. 

“Ireland are always a tough team,” said Arthur speaking to Scottishfa.co.uk ahead of the game. “They always have that hunger and desire.

“They’re a quality team with players in lots of different leagues. I think going into matches with them we know it’s always a battle no matter what and it can come down to whoever wants it more.

“They’ll be up for it as much as we are because these games are very important – they’re obviously knock-out so you have to win. We have to get the job done.”

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND

It is quite simply the biggest ever game in Irish women’s football with the Girls in Green on the brink of qualifying for their first major tournament. 

“The target when we started this campaign was to qualify for the World Cup and we remain in a position to achieve that,” said Vera Pauw ahead of the game. 

“We expected Sweden to top our Group, so we knew that going through the route of the Play-Offs was a possibility and therefore is not daunting to us. It is another massive challenge and we must play the game of our lives to win it.
 
“We have full respect for Scotland, who are a very direct team with a lot of excellent players and they fully deserved to beat Austria in the first round of this Play-Off series. We have watched them closely and know that we will be facing a very difficult opponent, who will also have a home crowd behind them.
 
“We believe in ourselves and trust in each other – players and staff – but we know that we have to be at our very best if we are to win this game. Making it to the World Cup has always been the dream.”

Vera Pauw’s team come into the play-off finals as the third-ranked team in the second round of the Play-Offs, behind Switzerland (who are home to Wales) and Iceland (who are away to Portugal). 

The two best ranked winners – based on qualification record – will proceed directly to the World Cup with the third winner qualifying for the FIFA Women’s Inter-Confederation Play-Off in New Zealand next February.

Should Ireland win in 90 or 120 minutes and either Switzerland or Iceland lose their play-off (or go through on penalties), Ireland will qualify for the World Cup.

The Swiss and Icelandic games kick off at 6pm tomorrow so Ireland will know more about their faith when their game kicks off at 8pm.

If all three teams win, then Ireland will have to travel to the FIFA play-off in New Zealand. Details on the FIFA play-off are listed at the bottom of this article. 

Referee: Esther Staubli (Switzerland)

VAR to be used in Ireland’s Women’s World Cup play-offs https://t.co/BpQGC8BKfnpic.twitter.com/dd52E4qSxo

— Extratime.com (@ExtratimeNews) October 4, 2022

MATCH STATS
Should Louise Quinn play on Thursday she will earn her 99th cap. She, along with Courtney Brosnan, Katie McCabe and Denise O'Sullivan, played all eight of Ireland’s qualifiers.

Katie McCabe was Ireland’s top scorer in the qualifying campaign with seven goals, one ahead of Denise O’Sullivan. Courtney Brosnan kept four clean sheets.

The Republic of Ireland have played Scotland more times (21) than any other nation at senior level in the women’s game, ahead of Northern Ireland (20) and Wales (15). It is five years since they last played. Scotland won that international friendly 1-0. 

PREDICTION
1-1 AET with Ireland to win on penalty kicks  

Scotland

Injured: n/a

Suspended: None

Republic of Ireland

Injured: Savannah McCarthy, Ruesha Littlejohn, Megan Connolly, Ellen Molloy, Jess Ziu, Leanne Kiernan, Aoife Colvill.

Suspended: None

Ireland squad in full:
Goalkeepers: Courtney Brosnan (Everton), Grace Moloney (Reading), Megan Walsh (Brighton & Hove Albion).
Defenders: Harriet Scott (Birmingham City), Keeva Keenan (Shelbourne), Claire O’Riordan (Celtic), Diane Caldwell (Reading), Louise Quinn (Birmingham City), Niamh Fahey (Liverpool), Hayley Nolan (London City Lionesses), Chloe Mustaki (Bristol City), Megan Campbell (Liverpool), Áine O’Gorman (Peamount United)
Midfielders: Katie McCabe (Arsenal), Denise O’Sullivan (North Carolina Courage), Jamie Finn (Birmingham City), Ciara Grant (Hearts), Lily Agg (London City Lionesses), Niamh Farrelly (Parma), Roma McLaughlin (Central Connecticut University), Lucy Quinn (Birmingham City), Isibeal Atkinson (West Ham United)
Forwards: Heather Payne (Florida State University), Amber Barrett (FFC Turbine Potsdam), Abbie Larkin (Shelbourne), Saoirse Noonan (Durham WFC), Kyra Carusa (HB Hoge)

How does the FIFA play-off work?

The team from UEFA will compete with nine others for the final three qualifying spots for the tournament at a mini-tournament held at the Waikato Stadium in Hamilton/Kirikiriroa and the North Harbour Stadium in Auckland/Timaki Makaurau.

The play-off tournament will be used as a test event in New Zealand for the FIFA Women’s World Cup.

New Zealand and an additional international team will be invited to participate in friendly matches against the teams in Group 1 and Group 2, thereby ensuring that all teams play two matches during the play-off tournament.

The nine teams who will make up the tournament with the European side are listed here along with their confederation and world ranking: Chinese Taipei (AFC - 38), Chile (CONMEBOL - 39), Thailand (AFC - 41), Papua New Guinea (Oceania - 49), Paraguay (CONMEBOL - 51), Haiti (CONCACAF - 56), Panama (CONCACAF - 57), Cameroon (CAF - 59) and Senegal (CAF - 84).

Four teams will be seeded in the tournament based on the latest FIFA/Coca-Cola Women’s World Ranking prior to the play-off draw, with a maximum of one seeded team per confederation.

The European team is likely to be seeded in the tournament based on the current world rankings. Only Bosnia are currently ranked lower than the other participants for the play-off tournament.

The Republic of Ireland are currently 26 in the FIFA rankings, significantly higher than any other team that will be in the play-off and based on the current rankings if Ireland end up in this FIFA play-off the seeds will be:

Seed 1: Ireland (UEFA - 26)

Seed 2: Chinese Taipei (AFC - 38)

Seed 3: Chile (CONMEBOL - 39)

Seed 4: Papua New Guinea (Oceania – 49) [Thailand are ranked higher (41) than Papua New Guinea but there can be only one seed per confederation]

In Group 1, comprising three teams, seed 1 will play for a place in the FIFA Women’s World Cup against the winners of the knockout game involving the two unseeded teams in the group.

In Group 2, comprising three teams, seed 2 will play for a place in the FIFA Women’s World Cup against the winners of the knockout game involving the two unseeded teams in the group.

In Group 3, comprising four teams, seeds 3 and seed 4 will play against the two unseeded teams in the group, with the two winners then playing for a place in the FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Should Ireland end up in the play-off they will be the top ranked team and so would be drawn in Group 1 avoiding seeds - based on current rankings - Chinese Taipei, Chile and Papua New Guinea.

They would play a friendly against New Zealand in Waikato Stadium in Wellington first on Friday 17 February and would then play the winner of the knockout game involving two of the non-seeded team in Waikato on Wednesday 22 Feburary.

As teams from the same confederation cannot play one another, it means if Ireland make the play-off they would play against the winner of a tie involving a pair of teams from Thailand (AFC), Paraguay (CONMEBOL), Haiti/Panama (CONCACAF), Cameroon/Senegal (CAF).

Ireland drawn in same group as the Netherlands and France for Euro 2024 qualifiers https://t.co/bStAysN1bgpic.twitter.com/fk5xcS6sQF

— Extratime.com (@ExtratimeNews) October 9, 2022