Ireland head into Glasgow to face Scotland this evening facing the game of their lives. A win at Hampden Park could set Ireland on their way to the World Cup, however a victory does not guarantee their place at the tournament. Defeat, however, would mean the end of the round.
Here's an explainer on what has to happen for the Girls In Green to qualify for football's biggest tournament.
What Needs To Happen For Ireland To Qualify
Firstly, and most importantly, Ireland have to win against Scotland in Glasgow. This will be a difficult task considering their opponents are three places higher in world rankings, and considering Ireland's depleted squad.
Other playoffs are taking place tonight as well - Wales play Switzerland and Portugal play Iceland. Ireland find themselves third in the table of playoffs team. Only the top two ranked teams of the play off finals will get a ticket to Australia and New Zealand and Ireland are currently third in the group. The third place side will head to the ten team inter confederations in New Zealand in February.
The top two will be decided by combining the play-off results with the group stage results. Since some groups have 6 teams rather than the usual 5, matches against the 6th placed team will not count.
The manner of victory will also matter. Win after extra time will count as 3 points. However, winning via penalties will only count as one point so don't expect teams to sit back in extra time.
Here's how the table looks.
Not only do Scotland women need to beat Ireland, but we need Wales to beat Switzerland, or Portugal to beat Iceland to qualify for the finals directly - otherwise we go into the Inter-Continental Play-Off in NZ in Feb pic.twitter.com/8jWVlICMpa
— SimonM 🏴🇪🇺🇳🇿🇺🇦 🌻 (@gingereejit) October 10, 2022
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Either Portugal Or Wales To Win
For Katie McCabe and co to qualify, they have to hope the two teams currently above them in the table, Switzerland and Iceland drop points. The Swiss take on Wales at home whilst Iceland travel to the Iberian peninsula to play Portugal. Ireland's best hope of qualifying would be Portugal winning. The Portuguese is ranked higher than the Welsh and have Champions League winner Jessica Silva to call upon.
The Girls in Green also have an advantage over their rivals. With both Switzerland and Iceland kicking off at 6pm, Ireland kick off 2 hours later at 8pm. Due to this, Vera Pauw would know if her team's fate is or isn't in their own hands.
Ahead of kickoff tonight, Ireland's taliswoman Katie McCabe discussed Ireland's mentality ahead of this huge occasion.
Katie McCabe and the rest of the Irish squad have the biggest game of their lives against Scotland, with World Cup qualification at stake. Watch Scotland v Republic of Ireland live on RTÉ2 and the RTÉ Player on Tuesday from 7:45pm. #RTEsoccer #COYGIG pic.twitter.com/rAzIqJl6lw
— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) October 10, 2022
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