The Republic of Ireland have been drawn in a tough group for the 2002 World Cup Qualifying campaign. Mick McCarthy's side are in Group Two, putting them on course for meetings with Holland and Portugal, along with Cyprus, Andorra and Estonia. The Group has been officially described as "difficult, but not the worst".
Like the Republic, Northern Ireland have been drawn in a six team group, Group 3 which includes the Czech Republic, Denmark, Bulgaria, Iceland and Malta. While in Group 9, England were drawn with Germany, Greece, Finland and Albania. In Group 6, Scotland lines up against Belgium, Croatia, Latvia and San Marino.
Ireland can now look forward to the challenge of redressing the balance with Holland, who have only lost once in their last seven competitive meetings with the Irish. Of the eight games against Portugal, only two have been competitive – Ireland’s 1-0 win at Lansdowne Road in the preliminaries of the 1996 European championship being one of them. The second saw Portugal win 3-0 in the return game in Lisbon’s Stadium of Light.
Precise arrangements for the Group Two games will be made at a meeting in Amsterdam next month. Bernard O'Byrne, who attended the draw in Tokyo with FAI President, Pat Quigley, described the draw for the preliminaries as "very exciting. It is an attractive group with a minimum of four very inviting fixtures in prospect. The home and away ties against Holland and Portugal should be great footballing occasions." Quigley echoed his sentiments saying that after the vicissitudes of the Euro 2000 draw, Tokyo now offered Irish fans some excellent opportunities of travelling abroad with their team.
