Republic of Ireland General Discussion Thread 2026

That hooligan culture still exists.

what are we saying about the midfield lineup so if vale is rumoured to be in ? i'd have stuck browne in. or do we think vale is gonna be further ahead?

I wonder how fit Ogbene is.

I like him a lot though and prefer to start him though.

I'd prefer to start with Ogbene if possible.

He frightens defenders.

Vale is an unknown to the Czechs so that could be an advantage.

From what I've seen of him, he's technical but lacks pace.

If Ogbene is fit, he has to start. He draws fouls, wins frees, gets lads booked. If Czech play 3-5-2, it pins back their LWB.

AFAIK he's played a few under 21 games. Not sure exactly how fit he is.

The idea of a box midfield of Molumby - Azaz - Schmodic - Vale is that it's more technical and can keep the ball.

Might be too big a game to be experimenting though when we have a tried and trusted game plan.

One more sleep

Yup. Would be very risky to go with Azaz + Molumby in the middle.

Surely someone like Taylor will start there……which I think was the case in the Portugal game at home.

And let's hope Ogbene is fit to start.

Heimir has regularly played these sort of hybrid formations, is there any chance he goes with a 4-4-1-1? Manning and Vale out wide with Azaz behind Parrott. Maybe O'Shea left back and Manning being the hybrid player that could make it become a back five.

Not what I'd expect or necessarily want to see but I don't see Vale starting if we go with a back 5.

Ogbene's pace is one of our biggest weapons and needs to be used correctly. If he's not fit, maybe that's off the bench when the game becomes more stretched. Although from what I can see he just hasn't been selected rather than injured, so maybe he is fit enough to start.

Johnston a huge loss - he mightnt be lightning quick like Ogbene/Festy bit he is able to beat a man and drag players over to him.

Have we any real pace in the squad apart from ogbebe? I know nothing about vale but from the descriptions I've read here and elsewhere pace wouldn't be his strongest asset.

hopefully though we are just solid at the back and dont gift any chances/goals. We are all talking about attack, but we need to be solid at the back..hopefully we have worked on set pieces aswell this week and can target those.

I find it funny there is way more hype for this game than Denmark playoff in 2017, even though we were just 90 minutes away from the WC then.

Has society changed or are we just starved of success and something to get excited for?

I think the hype has grown around this game because if we win its a home playoff, I'd imagine if we win the build up will be phenomenal to Tuesdays game, but as someone mentioned, the soccer fans have been starved of something to get excited about for ages.

1000%

After the Hungary game and how we won it I was buzzing for a full week and couldn't tell you how many times I rewatched highlights of it.

For 2017 it was nice we beat Wales away to make the playoffs but we started that campaign in great form and had a real shot at topping the group. I think how they started and how they ended plays a part in the enthusiasm for each playoff.

2026 it's a mircle we made it, 2017 you're a bit disappointed that we threw away a great start and needed a win in the final game to secure the playoff.

Nothing like the buzz the day of a big Ireland game. The event itself is usually an anti-climax but still.