Republic of Ireland captain Séamus Coleman believes his team have “a duty” to lift the country by qualifying for a World Cup finals. It would be the first time since 2002.
Ireland are set to visit the Czech Republic in a World Cup playoff semi-final. After collecting one point from their opening three qualifiers, few would have imagined this possible. Heimir Hallgrímsson’s side reignited their campaign with two Troy Parrott-inspired wins against Portugal and Hungary in November.
Playoff Hurdles and Recent Confidence
Previous playoff defeats have been a source of misery for the Republic of Ireland. These include Thierry Henry’s handball for France in 2009 and Denmark’s 5-1 victory in Dublin in 2017.
Coleman insists recent history will be forgotten in Prague. He has urged the team to finish the job. The winner of the semi-final will face Denmark or North Macedonia at home in the playoff final at the 19,370‑capacity Fortuna Arena.
“The current group are all so young so I don’t think they are dwelling on that hurt too much,” Coleman said of previous playoff defeats. “We are just riding the wave of confidence we’ve got from the last two games. To see how the nation is feeling now is incredible. We’ve got a duty to try and make them even happier.”
Coleman’s Personal Stakes
At 37, and with injuries restricting his appearances for Everton, this is potentially Coleman’s last chance to reach a World Cup.
“Selfishly it would be amazing because as players you want to do as much as you can in the game, but from the aftermath of the last two games and seeing what it did to our country, it was incredible how it lifted our country and lifted our people.
“It genuinely made people happier and gave people something to get up in the morning and talk about, which is so important. So as much as we want to do it for ourselves and for the staff behind the scenes, we want to do it for the people of our country as well.”
Facing the Czech Republic
Ireland have been allocated only 1,024 tickets for the semi-final. Coleman says the Republic will not be intimidated in Prague, having stunned a hostile crowd of almost 60,000 in Budapest with their last‑gasp win in November. “This group has been through a lot,” the defender said.
“The manager has touched a lot this week on the hurdles the group has overcome and I think we are ready for it. It’s going to be tough, it’s going to be fiery out there and maybe two years ago it would have been a lot for the young lads to take, but I think now everyone has stepped up and are prepared for what’s to come.”
Hallgrímsson shares Coleman’s confidence. He recently extended his contract with the Football Association of Ireland until the end of the Euro 2028 campaign. The Czech Republic pose a conundrum ahead of the semi-final in the sense it will be Miroslav Koubek’s first game in charge.