“Mick won’t have that approach.”
The draw for Euro 2020 qualification was made at the Convention Centre in Dublin on Sunday morning. The Republic of Ireland have been drawn in Group D alongside Switzerland, Denmark, Georgia and Gibraltar.
While it is certainly not an easy group, it could have been a lot worse.
Mick McCarthy’s team had originally been drawn in Group C, which features football heavyweights Germany and the Netherlands.
England's group would have been ideal for Ireland, but this could be worse…#EURO2020 https://t.co/nFqKHjypxO
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) December 2, 2018
However, as more than two host nations for the tournament could not be drawn alongside each other, Ireland could not be placed in this group.
Amsterdam, Munich and Dublin are among the 12 host cities for Euro 2020, so therefore Ireland could not be drawn alongside Germany and the Netherlands.
So, instead, McCarthy’s team went into Group D, where they will play Denmark yet again.
Northern Ireland took Ireland’s place in Group C, which is undoubtedly the toughest group of the lot.
God, that was almost cruel https://t.co/6898WvyNNu
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) December 2, 2018
Another positive for Ireland is that they are in a five-team group, rather than a six-team group, which means that they will have two matchdays free.
So, McCarthy will have time to work on the training ground with his new squad.
Group A, featuring England, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Montenegro and Kosovo, would arguably have been a more favourable draw for McCarthy’s team.
However, Ireland will take this one and hope for an upturn in form in 2019.
On RTE, Richie Sadlier stated some more reasons for optimism.
According to the former Millwall forward, Ireland are almost bound to improve under McCarthy because the team will be much better prepared in training and will have a plan to stop the opposition.
You can watch Sadlier’s analysis here:
And here:
Richie Sadlier believes that Ireland's #Euro2020 qualifying opponents will be at a disadvantage facing a new manager with an unseen game plan pic.twitter.com/pKHase1Rlm
— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) December 2, 2018
Ireland lost won a competitive game in October 2017, when they recorded a fortunate victory over Wales in Cardiff.
Since then, they’ve been hammered 5-1 at home by Denmark in the World Cup play-off last November and lost 4-1 away to Wales. Ireland ended 2018 with relegation from the Nations League.
However, Sadlier certainly has a valid point. McCarthy’s side will be better prepared for games than we have seen from the Ireland team over the past year.
While they certainly aren’t guaranteed to qualify for Euro 2020, Irish football fans will be feeling more optimistic than this time last week.
