Night of hope. What to expect from Ireland’s match against Czech Republic in 2026 World Cup qualification

por Wosti -

The match against the Czech Republic on the evening of March 26 will attract the attention of the entire country. A ticket to the World Cup in North America is at stake, which could be Ireland’s first since 2002. If successful, the Boys in Green will have to play another qualifying match against the winner of the Denmark vs North Macedonia tie. But for now, everyone who supports the Ireland football team is looking forward to the match against the Czech Republic.

How Ireland national team came to this game and why we want to believe in them

It was difficult to call Ireland the favourites in their qualifying group – with Portugal in the mix, everyone else could only hope for second place. But even in the battle for second, bookmakers favoured Hungary, a team that, unlike Ireland, had qualified for the last two Euro tournaments. And in the Nations League, the Hungarians spent last season in League A.

But under Heimir Hallgrímsson, who had already surprised the entire continent with the Iceland national team, the Boys in Green finally believed in themselves. Everyone remembers the comeback and Parrott’s hat-trick in the last game against Hungary, but even at the start of the group stage, they managed to come back from a 2-goal deficit against the same opponents and draw in Dublin. And the home victory over Portugal would certainly be remembered for years to come, even without the subsequent success in Budapest.

This team brings to mind the most glorious pages of our history, such as the victory over England in 1949, the magical night in the round of 16 against Romania in Genoa in 1990, or the victory over Italy in 2016. It will be wonderful if, years from now, all Ireland football fixtures 2026 evoke just as fond memories.

Czech crisis and new hope

For the Czech Republic, 2025 was a challenging year, and the local fans’ mood swings ranged from positive to negative. Suffice it to say that the team lost away not only to Croatia (1-5) but also to the Faroe Islands (1-2).

The team will be prepared for the match against Ireland by the third coach in this qualifying campaign, the highly experienced 74-year-old Miroslav Koubek. He is unlikely to radically revamp the squad. Goalkeeper Kovár, defender Coufal, midfielder Soucek and forward Schick are the ones who will definitely play if they are fit. Koubek may give a little more playing time to players from Viktoria Plzen, the club he managed before being invited to the national team.

It’s important to note that the Czechs will play against Ireland on their home turf, where only Croatia managed not to lose in the qualification. On the other hand, the Faroe Islands lost 1-2 here, with the Czechs scoring the winning goal only in the 85th minute. So, there’s no point in overestimating the opponents either.

Previous Ireland vs Czech Republic clashes

Since 1994, when the teams met for the first time, they’ve clashed 8 times. The results are as follows: 2 wins for Ireland, 2 draws and 4 wins for the Czech Republic. Notably, none of the games ended with a large margin, so we can expect another hard-fought contest this time.

At the same time, all three matches played in the Czech Republic ended in victory for the home side. But it’s important to remember that all of those games took place in the 1990s and 2000s. At that time, the Czech Republic had world-class stars such as Pavel Nedved, Karel Poborský and Jan Koller, played in the Euro 1996 final and reached the Euro 2004 semi-finals.

Now the teams are more evenly matched, as is their motivation. Ireland haven’t played in the World Cup since 2002, while the Czech Republic haven’t participated since 2006.

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