{"id":404449,"date":"2026-03-26T06:10:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T06:10:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/404449\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T06:10:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T06:10:14","slug":"squad-updates-tv-details-and-more-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/404449\/","title":{"rendered":"Squad updates, TV details and more \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"How Troy Parrott factor will influence Ireland v Czech RepublicWhat\u2019s happening?<\/p>\n

The Republic of Ireland<\/a> are playing the Czech Republic in a playoff semi-final in the hope of qualifying for this summer\u2019s World Cup<\/a> co-hosted by the US, Canada and Mexico.<\/p>\n

When and where?<\/p>\n

The game will be played on Thursday evening, kick-off 7.45pm Irish time, at the Fortuna Arena in the Czech capital, Prague.<\/p>\n

How can I watch the game?<\/p>\n

The game will be shown live on RT\u00c92 and will be available to stream on Amazon Prime.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018We want to do it for the people\u2019: S\u00e9amus Coleman ready to give Ireland something to shout about in PragueOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll also have live updates on irishtimes.com<\/a> throughout the game, followed by a full report, player ratings, reaction and analysis from our team of writers.<\/p>\n

What if Ireland win?<\/p>\n

If Heimir Hallgr\u00edmsson<\/a>\u2019s side get a win in Prague, they\u2019ll face the winner of the other Path D playoff semi-final \u2013 Denmark v North Macedonia \u2013 in a playoff final at the Aviva Stadium next Tuesday, the winner of which will qualify for the World Cup.<\/p>\n

The Denmark v North Macedonia game will be played in Copenhagen at the same time as the Ireland game on Thursday evening, so we\u2019ll also be keeping an eye on proceedings there.<\/p>\n

What if Ireland lose?<\/p>\n

If Ireland lose to the Czech Republic, their World Cup qualifying campaign is over. They\u2019ll still play a game at the Aviva next Tuesday, but it will just be an international friendly against the loser of the Denmark v North Macedonia playoff.<\/p>\n

\"IrelandIreland manager Heimir Hallgr\u00edmsson at a press conference in Prague on Wednesday. Photograph: Ryan Byrne\/INPHO Have we team news?<\/p>\n

Yes, Hallgr\u00edmsson and his Czech counterpart, Miroslav Koubek, named their squads for the playoffs last week.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Harvey Vale could be the wild card: Our writers pick their Ireland team to face Czech RepublicOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Ireland are without the injured duo of Evan Ferguson<\/a> and Josh Cullen, while Liam Scales has been included in the squad but will miss the game in Prague due to suspension.<\/p>\n

The Czechs have included Lyon\u2019s Pavel Sulc and Bayer Leverkusen\u2019s Patrik Schick, both of whom had been injury concerns, as well as West Ham\u2019s Tomas Soucek.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the two squads in full:<\/p>\n

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND<\/p>\n

Goalkeepers: Caoimh\u00edn Kelleher (Brentford), Mark Travers (Everton), Josh Keeley (Luton Town).<\/p>\n

Defenders: S\u00e9amus Coleman (Everton), Jimmy Dunne (QPR), Nathan Collins (Brentford), Dara O\u2019Shea (Ipswich Town), Jake O\u2019Brien (Everton), John Egan (Hull City), James Abankwah (Watford), Liam Scales (Celtic), Robbie Brady (Preston North End), Ryan Manning (Southampton).<\/p>\n

\"RobbieRobbie Brady, centre, before a session at the FAI National Training Centre, Dublin, on Monday. Photograph: Niall Carson\/PA <\/p>\n

Midfielders: Jayson Molumby (West Brom), Bosun Lawal (Stoke City), Jack Taylor (Ipswich Town), Alan Browne (Middlesbrough), Jason Knight (Bristol City), Finn Azaz (Southampton), Harvey Vale (QPR).<\/p>\n

Attackers: Troy Parrott<\/a> (AZ Alkmaar), Adam Idah (Swansea City), Johnny Kenny (Bolton, on loan from Celtic), Chiedozie Ogbene (Sheffield United, on loan from Ipswich Town), Sammie Szmodics (Derby, on loan from Ipswich Town).<\/p>\n

CZECH REPUBLIC<\/p>\n

Goalkeepers: Lukas Horn\u00edcek (Braga), Martin Jedlicka (Ban\u00edk), Matej Kovar (PSV).<\/p>\n

Defenders: Vladimir Coufal (Hoffenheim), Tomas Holes (Slavia), Robin Hranac (Hoffenheim), Stepan Chaloupek (Slavia), David Jurasek (Slavia), Ladislav Krejci (Wolves), Martin Vitik (Bologna), Jaroslav Zeleny (Sparta).<\/p>\n

Midfielders: Pavel Bucha (Cincinnati), Lukas Cerv (Plzen), Vladimir Darida (Hradec Kr\u00e1lov\u00e9), Adam Karabec (Lyon), Tomas Ladra (Plzen), Lukas Provod (Slavia), Michal Sad\u00edlek (Slavia), Tomas Soucek (West Ham), Pavel Sulc (Lyon), Denis Visinsky (Plzen).<\/p>\n

Forwards: Tomas Chory (Slavia), Mojm\u00edr Chytil (Slavia), Jan Kliment (Olomouc), Patrik Schick (Leverkusen).<\/p>\n

What\u2019s our head-to-head like?<\/p>\n

Ireland have played the Czech national team 20 times, their first meeting being in 1938.<\/p>\n

The record favours Thursday night\u2019s hosts, who have won 11 of the games so far to Ireland\u2019s six, while three fixtures ended in draws.<\/p>\n

\"JohnJohn O’Shea in action against Jan Rezek during an international friendly between Ireland and the Czech Republic in 2012. Photograph: Morgan Treacy\/INPHO <\/p>\n

Most recently, Ireland played out a 1-1 draw against the Czech Republic when they came to Dublin for a friendly in September 2012. Before that, the sides met as part of the qualifying campaign for Euro 2008, the Czechs qualifying having secured a 1-0 home win in the second leg after a 1-1 draw in Dublin.<\/p>\n

Ireland\u2019s most recent win in the fixture came in a friendly at Lansdowne Road in March 2004, with Ian Harte and Robbie Keane the Irish goalscorers in the 2-1 finish.<\/p>\n

How many spots are still up for grabs at the World Cup?<\/p>\n

There are still six places at this summer\u2019s tournament yet to be filled.<\/p>\n

Four will go to the European nations that win the Uefa playoff finals next week, while the two remaining spots will be filled by a new six-team intercontinental tournament taking place in Mexico.<\/p>\n

The latter route will see New Caledonia face Jamaica and Bolivia play Suriname in two semi-finals on Thursday, the winners of which will play Democratic Republic of the Congo and Iraq respectively in finals next Tuesday, the two winners qualifying for the World Cup.<\/p>\n

Who else is in action in the Uefa playoffs?<\/p>\n

Northern Ireland and Wales are also in the playoffs, both in Path A.<\/p>\n

Northern Ireland will play Italy in Bergamo on Thursday (kick-off 7.45pm Irish time, live coverage on BBC One) while Wales host Bosnia & Herzegovina in Cardiff.<\/p>\n

If Michael O\u2019Neill\u2019s side come through their semi-final, they\u2019ll be away to the winners of Wales v Bosnia & Herzegovina in a playoff final next Tuesday for a shot at World Cup qualification.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s in store if Ireland get to the World Cup?<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t want to get ahead of ourselves, but if Ireland make it to the World Cup, they\u2019ll slot in to Group A alongside Mexico, South Africa and South Korea.<\/p>\n

But first, Prague.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"How Troy Parrott factor will influence Ireland v Czech RepublicWhat\u2019s happening? The Republic of Ireland are playing the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":404450,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[11022,18,16756,17065,19,17,6634,6370,4335,132,29833,35350],"class_list":{"0":"post-404449","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-czech-republic","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-evan-ferguson","11":"tag-heimir-hallgrimsson","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-republic-of-ireland-mnt","15":"tag-seamus-coleman","16":"tag-soccer","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-troy-parrott","19":"tag-world-cup"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116293994306026304","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=404449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404449\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/404450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=404449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=404449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=404449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}