The Republic of Ireland had the lion’s share of possession throughout the game but a 25-yard strike from Azerbaijani midfielder Emin Makhmudov forced Stephen Kenny’s side to chase the game in the second half.

The ever-reliable Shane Duffy headed home with three minutes to spare in normal time to share the spoils with the visitors but Ireland failed to deliver on the promise they showed on Wednesday against Portugal.

Duffy and co. started out as the better side, applying pressure on a three-man defence that appeared as if holes could be exposed in it.

However, as the half went on, Ireland’s history under Stephen Kenny of being wasteful in front of goal had another chapter added to it as the side failed to take the lead despite having several strong chances to do so.

Ireland’s 3-4-3 formation failed to impact their play positively with a midfield who struggled to keep possession and an overreliance on creativity down the right flank.

Azerbaijan got to grips with the game and started pushing back and applying pressure on the hosts’ back five.

Ireland weathered much of the storm but not without some alarming amounts of space being afforded to the opponents on the ball at times.

The half looked to be ending without a goal before Makhmudov rifled the ball past Gavin Bazunu, shocking the Aviva and putting Giovanni De Biasi’s side ahead.

De Biasi’s defensive tactics shone in the second half as the Republic of Ireland were frustrated time and time again.

The game followed the trend Azerbaijan have showcased in recent history of allowing at least twice as many shots against themselves as they took.

However, the Azerbaijani defence, namely a narrow back three and goalkeeper Sahruddin Mehemmedeliyev, held firm.

Wycombe Wanderers striker Daryl Horgan came on in place of Aaron Connolly and injected some much-needed urgency into the side.

Troy Parrott was taken off 17 minutes into the second half with Jayson Molumby on in his place.

Parrott struggled throughout the game after being placed in a deeper role than usual – it was not uncommon to see Idah centrally and Parrott behind him with no presence on the right-hand side in the final third.

Ireland got their goal with minutes to spare courtesy of Shane Duffy, who became the side’s joint top-scorer under Stephen Kenny with his equaliser – Duffy and Parrott have both scored two since Kenny’s first game in charge.

The team pushed for a winner but could not find it and come out of their first half of World Cup Qualifier fixtures with just a point to show for it.

The Republic of Ireland host Serbia on Tuesday, September 7 in the first of their reverse fixtures against their Group A opponents.

Serbia smacked Luxembourg 4-1 in the Red Star Stadium in Belgrade and have given Ireland a mountain to climb to get out of the group – although it does not seem like Stephen Kenny’s side have a chance.

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The Group A showdown means one of the sides will finally get points on the board after both teams suffered losses to Portugal, Serbia and Luxembourg.

Stephen Kenny’s Republic of Ireland side came close in their last match against Portugal after two disappointing opening games against Serbia and Luxembourg but it was not to be.

Our match report detailed an Ireland that had cohesion in defence and offered threats up top via the vision of their midfield.

More of the same will be expected against an Azerbaijan side who have given up at least twice as many shots as they have taken in each of their three other qualifying games.

They will hope to get their second win under the former Dundalk and Ireland U21 boss against the side ranked 112th in the world.

Ireland have announced their team for today’s game, which sees Ronan Curtis, Alan Browne and Callum Robinson all make a return to the matchday 23.

Ireland’s full-backs will once again be crucial to their performance – the duo of Seamus Coleman and Matt Doherty will retain their spots after the Portugal match.

Norwich City’s Andrew Omibamidele made his debut for the national side after he came on in Dara O’Shea’s place after the latter centre-half was forced off through injury.

Omibamidele impressed and will appear again on the bench for the Republic of Ireland as the formation shifts from a 3-5-2 to a 4-4-2.

Giovanni De Biasi’s side tends to set up defensively but do deploy wing-backs and can offer a threat in the final third if given the chance.

Lineups

Republic of Ireland (4-4-2): Bazunu; Coleman, Duffy, Egan, Doherty; Connolly, Cullen, Molumby, McClean; Idah, Parrott.

Subs: Kelleher, Talbot, Manning, Hourihane, Robinson, Hendrick, Browne, Horgan, McGrath, Collins, Curtis, Omibamidele.

Azerbaijan (4-3-3): Mahammadaliyev; Medvedev (C), Haghverdi, Camalov, Kryvotsiuk; Mahmudov, Qarayev, Bayramov; Alasgarov, Emreli, Ozobic.

Subs: Salahli, Mustafayev, Ahmadzada, Seydayev, Cannatov, Huseynov, Mustafazada, Nuriyev, Khalilzada, Ibrahimli, Sadykhov, Bayramov.

Odds

Republic of Ireland 1/2

Draw 11/4

Azerbaijan 6/1

TV Coverage 

Kick-off for the match is at 5:00 pm with RTÉ 2 broadcasting the game – their coverage begins at 4 pm.

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Ireland will travel to Faro to take on Portugal at the Estádio Algarve on Wednesday, September 1 before returning to Ireland to take on Azerbaijan on Saturday, September 4 and Serbia on Tuesday, September 7 at the Aviva Stadium.

Enda Stevens, Callum O’Dowda, Jason Knight and Chiedozie Ogbene have all been ruled out through injury whilst West Bromwich Albion striker Callum Robinson tested positive for COVID-19 this week, and is currently in isolation.

Burnley defender Nathan Collins receives his first call-up to the senior squad whilst Jamie McGrath and Andrew Omobamidele keep their place in the squad after impressing in the summer camp in Andorra and Hungary.

Brighton and Hove Albion striker Aaron Connolly and Newcastle United midfielder Jeff Hendrick return to the squad having missed the summer international friendlies, with the squad set to fly out to Portugal on Sunday.

Republic of Ireland Squad

Goalkeepers: Caoimhin Kelleher (Liverpool), Gavin Bazunu (Portsmouth, on loan from Manchester City), Mark Travers (AFC Bournemouth)

Defenders: Seamus Coleman (Everton), Matt Doherty (Tottenham Hotspur), Shane Duffy (Brighton and Hove Albion), John Egan (Sheffield United), Dara O’Shea (West Bromwich Albion), Ryan Manning (Swansea City), James McClean (Wigan Athletic), Andrew Omobamidele (Norwich City), Nathan Collins (Burnley).

Midfielders: Josh Cullen (Anderlecht), Jeff Hendrick (Newcastle United), Conor Hourihane (Aston Villa), Harry Arter (Nottingham Forest), Jamie McGrath (St. Mirren), Jayson Molumby (Brighton and Hove Albion)

Attackers: Aaron Connolly (Brighton and Hove Albion), James Collins (Cardiff City), Daryl Horgan (Wycombe Wanderers), Adam Idah (Norwich City), Troy Parrott (MK Dons, on loan from Tottenham Hotspur), Shane Long (Southampton), Ronan Curtis (Portsmouth).

Fixtures

01/09 – Portugal v Republic of Ireland, Estádio Algarve, 7:45pm
04/09 – Republic of Ireland v Azerbaijan, Aviva Stadium, 5 pm
07/09 – Republic of Ireland v Serbia, Aviva Stadium, 7:45 pm

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Ireland’s World Cup qualification opponents were revealed earlier today. Their opponents for the upcoming campaign will be; Portugal, Serbia, Luxembourg and Azerbaijan.

Qualification for the World Cup finals is only reserved for 1^st and 2^nd placed teams within each group. Teams who place top of their respective groups will automatically qualify. On the other hand, runners-up will enter a play-off to determine which team goes through.

It will be a tough ask for Ireland to qualify, particularly given their poor recent form and the quality of opposition. Nevertheless, Ireland have overcome odds before and will be hoping to do so once again during this qualification campaign.

The campaign is set to kick off in March 2021, running until November of the same year. Here’s an overview of what Ireland are up against:

PORTUGAL

Portugal, being seeded in Pot 1 and having an exciting mix of youth and experience, are obvious favourites to win the group.

They’ve qualified for the last 5 World Cups, having last failed for the 1998 World Cup. In contrast, Ireland have not qualified for a World Cup since 2002.

Ireland have faced Portugal a total of 13 times, losing 7 and winning 4 times. Their most recent fixture was an international friendly, a game which ended up in a 5-1 Portuguese victory.

Unlike Ireland, Portugal have major international honours to their name. Perhaps most famously, they won the 2016 European Championships after defeating France in extra time. They also won the inaugural UEFA Nations League in 2019.

Cristiano Ronaldo will be hoping to become international football’s highest ever goalscorer by the end of the campaign. He currently sits on 102 goals, just 7 goals behind current top goalscorer, Ali Daei.

Portugal have quality all over the pitch, meaning Ireland will have to be at their very best to claim any kind of result.

Key players: Cristiano Ronaldo, Bruno Fernandes, João Félix.

Form: WLWWD

SERBIA

Despite losing to Scotland in their European Championship play-off game, Serbia are a quality side. They possess players of particular high quality in the midfield and forward areas.

They’ve been involved in 3 World Cup qualifying campaigns as Serbia – having previously competed under Yugoslavia and Serbia & Montenegro – and have qualified from 2 of those. They have, however, not made it past the group stage as of yet.

Ireland have faced Serbia 5 times, not winning a single match. Their most recent meeting came in the 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign, where both teams were drawn in the same group. One fixture finished in a Serbia win while the other finished as a 2-2 draw. Serbia topped the group while Ireland qualified for the play-offs, but failed to qualify for the tournament.

Although not as fearsome as Portugal, Serbia should provide a stern test for Ireland. The fixtures against Serbia are crucial for Ireland. Whoever comes out on top will have a very good chance of making the play-offs – assuming Portugal tops the group.

Key players: Sergej Milinković-Savić, Aleksandar Mitrović, Dušan Tadić

Form: WDDDL

LUXEMBOURG

Although not traditionally a country known for it’s football, Luxembourg have put together a decent team in recent years. They *might not* qualify for major tournaments any time soon, but they are definitely building towards something promising.

Ireland have faced Luxembourg 5 times, winning all of those fixtures. However, the last match between the two sides came in 1987 and Luxembourg are an improved, more professional side since then.

Luxembourg have competed in every World Cup qualifying campaign since 1934, but have failed to qualify from the group stages as yet.

They were promoted from Nations League group D in 2019 and very nearly achieved the same feat this year as they finished finished 2^nd in their League C group – which also included Azerbaijan.

Luxembourg could very well be the dark horse in this group, Ireland will have to do a professional job on the underdogs. Complacency could prove an issue going into this fixture.

Key players: Gerson Rodrigues, Vincent Thill, Laurent Jans.

Form: DLLWW

AZERBAIJAN

Like Luxembourg, Azerbaijan’s national team has been steadily improving for years. Much of the progression is due to the growth of their domestic league. Qarabağ, in particular, have vastly increased their reputation in recent years due to their involvement in the UEFA Europa League. In fact, they’ve qualified for the group stages every year since 2014.

Unlike the other teams in the group, Ireland have never faced Azerbaijan before. They have, however, faced the USSR – which they were part of – on 8 occasions. Ireland won 3 of those matches, while the USSR won 4.

Azerbaijan have never qualified for the World Cup as an independent country, having entered every campaign since 1998.

As mentioned before, they were in the same Nations League group as fellow group members, Luxembourg, this year. Luxembourg were victorious on one occasion while the other match between the two finished as a stalemate.

Realistically, Azerbaijan should finish bottom of the group. That is not, however, guaranteed. Ireland will have to be at their best to ensure a victory.

Key players: Ali Ghorbani, Maksim Medvedev, Gara Garayev.

Form: DDDDL

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Stephen Kenny’s Ireland team will face Portugal and Serbia in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers. The Boys in Green suffered a heavy defeat last time they played Portugal, losing 5-1 back in 2014. Whilst their last competitive fixtures both ended all square in the lead up to the 2002 World Cup.

As a consequence of Ireland’s poor recent form, they found themselves in pot three for the draw meaning they will also face Serbia. Since 2008, Ireland and Serbia have gone head to head five times, resulting in three draws and two wins for the Serbians. Similar to Ireland, Serbia suffered their own EURO 2020 qualifying heartache after losing to Scotland on penalties in the play-off final.

Luxembourg and Azerbaijan make up the remainder of Group A. It will be the first time Ireland have ever played Azerbaijan, and it will have been over 30 years since they have faced Luxembourg.

Group A is now complete

1⃣ Portugal
2⃣ Serbia
3⃣ Ireland
4⃣ Luxembourg
5⃣ Azerbaijan

What are your thoughts on that draw? #COYBIG | #WCQ | #WorldCup pic.twitter.com/wLpzS50IfW

— FAIreland (@FAIreland) December 7, 2020

Qualifying Format

The ten group winners will automatically qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. An additional three spots are up for grabs, with each runner-up along with the two highest-ranked teams from the UEFA Nations League set to contest in a play-off format for the last available places.

The qualifiers commence at the end of March 2021 with three opening fixtures scheduled. You can find the full World Cup 2022 qualifying draw below.

Group A: Portugal, Serbia, Republic of Ireland, Luxembourg, Azerbaijan.

Group B: Spain, Sweden, Greece, Georgia, Kosovo.

Group C: Italy, Switzerland, Northern Ireland, Bulgaria, Lithuania.

Group D: France, Ukraine, Finland, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kazakhstan.

Group E: Belgium, Wales, Czech Republic, Belarus, Estonia.

Group F: Denmark, Austria, Scotland, Israel, Faroe Islands, Moldova.

Group G: Holland, Turkey, Norway, Montenegro, Latvia, Gibraltar.

Group H: Croatia, Slovakia, Russia, Slovenia, Cyprus, Malta.

Group I: England, Poland, Hungary, Albania, Andorra, San Marino.

Group J: Germany, Romania, Iceland, North Macedonia, Armenia, Liechtenstein.

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