Since the heady of days of the Jack Charlton era in the nineties, the expectations of the Irish fans have been high. With players such as Robbie Keane, Damien Duff, Steve Finnan, Shay Given and John O’Shea, this is a squad with enough talent to beat anyone.

Steve Staunton’s first qualifying campaign got off to disastrous start, however: a 1-0 away defeat to Germany was expected but the 5-2 thrashing in Cyprus was a humiliation that he could not have anticipated. Since then results have gone more to plan and a place in the top 3 of the group is virtually secured. Qualification will probably require wins against the Czech Republic and this is a tall order unless the team can play to their full potential.