The Czech Republic stand in the way of the Republic of Ireland and a World Cup return.
Their clash sees the Boys in Green aim to end their 24-year absence from the tournament in this month’s play-offs.
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Heimir Hallgrimsson’s side secured their place in the second round of qualifying in dramatic style back in November.
Troy Parrott’s stoppage time winner against Hungary both completed his hat-trick and saw Ireland leapfrog their opponents into second place.
The Czech Republic also qualified for this stage by finishing second in their group during the first stage.
Denmark or North Macedonia then await the winner of their play-off semi-final for a place at this summer’s finals.
A spot alongside Mexico, South Africa and South Korea in group A will then be up for grabs in the play-off final.
Ireland are eyeing a first finals appearance since 2002 after missing out via the play-offs in both 2010 and 2018.
Meanwhile, their last major tournament came a decade ago at Euro 2016.
As for the Czech Republic, the 2006 World Cup is their only finals since Czechoslovakia was split up.
Czech Republic vs Republic of Ireland: Date and how to watch
Ireland will face the Czech Republic at the Fortuna Arena in Prague on Thursday, March 26.
Kick-off in the Czech capital is scheduled for 7.45pm.
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The match will be broadcast live in the United Kingdom on Amazon Prime Video Pay-per-view.
Coverage starts at 7.35pm, with the match available to buy for £2.49.
eSPORTY will also have updates throughout the night on Kick Off as Natalie Sawyer presents the show from 7pm.
To listen via the eSPORTY website, click HERE for the livestream.
Alternatively, you can tune in on the eSPORTY app here, on DAB digital radio, through your smart speaker and on 1089 or 1053 AM.
Republic of Ireland squad to face Czech Republic
Goalkeepers
- Caoimhin Kelleher – Brentford
- Mark Travers – Everton
- Josh Keeley – Luton Town
Defenders
- Seamus Coleman – Everton
- Jimmy Dunne – Queens Park Rangers
- Nathan Collins – Brentford
- Dara O’Shea – Ipswich Town
- Jake O’Brien – Everton
- John Egan – Hull City
- James Abankwah – Watford
- Liam Scales – Celtic
- Robbie Brady – Preston
- Ryan Manning – Southampton
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 – Queens Park Rangers
Forwards
- Troy Parrott – AZ Alkmaar
- Adam Idah – Swansea City
- Johnny Kenny – Bolton Wanderers
- Chiedozie Ogbene – Sheffield United
- Sammie Szmodics – Derby County
Czech Republic vs Republic of Ireland: Team news
Hallgrimsson will be without Evan Ferguson for Thursday’s play-off semi-final.
The on-loan Roma striker will also miss the final if they make it after being ruled out for the season with an ankle injury.
Josh Cullen has also missed out on a place in the squad due to injury.
However, Harvey Vale could make his debut after the Queens Park Rangers forward switched his international allegiance from England.
As for the Czech squad, there are two Premier League players included in the shape of Wolves’ Ladislav Krejci and West Ham United midfielder Tomas Soucek.
Czech Republic vs Republic of Ireland: Head-to-head
The two sides have met on eight previous occasions, but only two of those were competitive meetings.
Meanwhile, their most recent clash came in a friendly 14 years ago, with the match in Dublin ending 1-1.
When they did meet competitively in qualifying for Euro 2008, the Czech Republic claimed a 1-0 home win.
Ireland have been beaten in all three of their previous away matches against the Czech Republic.
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Czech Republic vs Republic of Ireland: What’s been said?
Hallgrimsson has revealed Ireland’s World Cup dream is being inspired by their match against Cristiano Ronaldo and co last year.
He said: “I’ve traveled a lot these last four months. I try to go not only to games, but I try to visit the players in the training grounds, etc.
“Then you have more relaxed time to speak to the coaches, to the staff, and to the players.
“But I think the turning point was Portugal away [1-0 defeat in October].
“I think that was the turning point in a sense that we played against one of the best attacking teams in the world, I think it’s ranked five.
“We kind of neutralised them, yeah they had chances.
“But after the game, I saw the players look at each other and kind of say, ‘F— we can do this, if we can do this here against them, we can win [against] every team in the world.’
“We have tried to build on what we did there. At home, we added the attacking bits that we needed, we didn’t have [them] in Portugal.
“I think that was a turning point in a sense. The players believed in what we were doing. And not only that, they believed in each other.
“So when those two things go hand in hand, that’s where the magic can happen. You believe not only in what you’re doing, but you believe in the players that are doing it with you.
“And I felt that happened in Portugal.”
