Will EIRE qualify via the playoffs?

You can say what you want about MON, but he got us to the playoffs again.

If there are no friendlies before it will be a little strange going in cold to such a massive game. That being said i would still ensure the team accounts for form.

I reckon we would batter the North, their half decent players are getting on now. 

Most sensible people would view how both teams respective groups panned out. On that alone, the only battering done would be on sausages before the game 

We came 3rd, we were the 3rd best team in that group in the strength of our squad and the reality on the pitch bore that out. Denmark and Switzerland were two decent sides, by no means elite but they did enough for us and would account for any of the four teams in our path.

Slovakia finished behind a Wales side that took a long time to find their feet, and croatia who would hammer all of us. From the look of their campaign they had a very similar one to us. Lost and drew against Wales who are the calibre of the top 2 in our group, lost both to Croatia who are better than anyone was in our group. This will be a tight game. I think we have the edge in quality, but it will be tight.

Bosnia had a sh*t campaign as covered above. I'd be very surprised if they're in the final.

The exception to the rule in my first sentence is Northern Ireland. There is not a single international team in world football who, if put into their position in that group, would be totally confident of qualification. Even the likes of England, Spain, Belgium etc would be looking nervous if they were drawn into a group with Germany and the Netherlands. And the north gave it a right go. We look at their players and they are sh*te. But when they play for their statelet they get an extra level and play superbly. I am not sure we would have it in us to beat them at this moment.

 

We dont need to win any games - 2 wins on pens will do.