Ireland to face Scotland or Austria in World Cup play-off
THE Republic of Ireland will travel to face off against either Scotland or Austria in their 2023 World Cup qualification second round play-off on Tuesday, October 11.
Captained by Tallaght’s Katie McCabe, Vera Pauw’s side managed to by-pass the first-round play-offs after victory over Slovakia earlier this week helped ensure they finished up as one of the three best group-stage runners-up.
Now they will be hoping they can surmount the winners of the Scotland and Austria tie (to be played on October 6) and emerge from the second round as one of the top-two ranked outfits in order to secure direct qualification to next year’s World Cup Finals in Australia and New Zealand.
As it stands, Ireland, ranked 27th, are seeded below both the Scots and Austrians.
Victory over one of them, combined with a loss for either Iceland or Switzerland in the other two second-round play-off matches will secure Ireland automatic passage to the Finals.
Ireland’s last encounter with Scotland in an international friendly back in 2017 saw them edged out 1-0, while they suffered a 2-0 reversal in their most recent clash with Austria when they met in the Cyprus Cup the year before.
