It’s going to be hard to get a full house here.
All the attention is currently on Denmark but can you name Ireland’s other opponents in play-off matches since Italia ’90?
There’s eight in total on the list, including the mighty Danes.
Call yourself a true Irish fan? You’ll be getting top marks in this one so…
Below the quiz, we will be giving you a recap of what happened in each play-off game but strictly no peaking until you take the test.
Oh, by the way, you have four minutes to name all eight. Best of luck.
Well, how did you do?
Two Patrick Kluivert goals meant we would not be heading across the pond to play in Euro ’96. The Netherlands beat us 2-0 at Anfield and back then there was only one play-off game so we had no second chance.
We narrowly missed out on France ’98 after being beaten 3-2 on aggregate by Belgium and it was the last time that Ray Houghton (goal-scorer) and Andy Townsend (goal-assist) played for the Republic of Ireland.
Another handball incident cost us a place at a major tournament. In Euro 2000’s play-off, Lee Carsley was deemed to have handled the ball in the box and Turkey got a precious away goal from a penalty in the final ten minutes making it 1-1 which came in handy as they held us to a nil-all draw in the replay. The second leg was rough, to say the least as Turkish fans and players alike attacked Tony Cascarino.
A Robbie Keane goal and an Ian Harte penalty set us up nicely for the return leg against Iran and although they did manage a late goal in the second game, they couldn’t beat the Irish. The other Keane, Roy, didn’t travel to Iran for the return leg and thus built the foundations for Mick McCarthy’s claims of Roy ‘faking injuries’.
Got beaten by France in the play-off for the World Cup in 2009 after extra time. That’s it basically, don’t think anything else noteworthy happened…
We waited ten years to reach a major tournament again and thankfully our prayers were answered in 2011 when we hammered Estonia 4-0 in the first leg and 5-1 overall on aggregate.
Secured a draw and a precious away goal against Bosnia & Herzegovina but as it turned out, we didn’t even need it beating them 2-0 in the second game.
What will lie in store for Ireland against Denmark?
