Coleman tells Ireland they have a duty to lift country in World Cup playoff

Ireland face Czech Republic in playoff semi-final
Coleman: ‘We are just riding the wave of confidence’
Séamus Coleman believes the Republic of Ireland have “a duty” to lift the country by completing the job of qualifying for a World Cup finals for the first time since 2002.

Ireland visit the Czech ­Republic on Thursday in a World Cup playoff semi‑final that few would have imagined possible after collecting one point from their opening three qualifiers.

Having reignited their campaign with two Troy Parrott-inspired wins against Portugal and Hungary in November, however, Heimir Hallgrímsson’s side will take confidence and momentum into their bid to end a 24-year absence from the World Cup.

“The current group are all so young so I don’t think they are dwelling on that hurt too much,” the Republic and Everton captain said of previous ­playoff defeats.

“We are just ­riding the wave of confidence we’ve got from the last two games.

To see how the nation is feeling now is ­incredible.

We’ve got a duty to try and make them even happier.”
At 37 and with injuries restricting his appearances for Everton, this is Coleman’s last chance to reach a World Cup.

“Selfishly it would be amazing because as players you want to do as much as you can in the game, but from the aftermath of the last two games and seeing what it did to our country, it was incredible how it lifted our country and lifted our people.

“It genuinely made people happier and gave people something to get up in the morning and talk about, which is so important.

So as much as we want to do it for ourselves and for the staff behind the scenes, we want to do it for the people of our country as well.”
They have been allocated only 1,024 tickets for the semi-final but, having stunned a hostile crowd of almost 60,000 in Budapest with their last‑gasp win in November, Coleman says the Republic will not be intimidated in Prague.

“This group has been through a lot,” the defender said.

“The manager has touched a lot this week on the hurdles the group has overcome and I think we are ready for it.

It’s going to be tough, it’s going to be fiery out there and maybe two years ago it would have been a lot for the young lads to take, but I think now everyone has stepped up and are prepared for what’s to come.”
Hallgrímsson said: “There could be a change with their new coach so we are not overly analysing them.

We are just focusing on ourselves and trying to build on what we have been doing.

We know this coach likes to play a different formation to what they have done before so we plan for both, but we are not overly concerned about what he will throw at us.”