The Republic of Ireland are into round two of the World Cup play-offs after they ended an impressive Group A qualification campaign with a 1-0 win in Slovakia.That victory means Ireland head for the play-offs as one of the top-three ranked sides and therefore get a bye into the second round.But what awaits them?The draw will be made this Friday lunchtime and there are some big guns lurking."The first name on the list is definitely the one you want to avoid," said ex-Ireland international and RTÉ analyst Karen Duggan in reference to the Netherlands."We all know the quality they have, they're not sixth in the world for no reason."Iceland, they're a team we struggled against [when the teams met in June 2021 and Iceland won 3-2]."I know we went through a phase of playing higher ranked teams but I was impressed with how Iceland managed those games against us.
They were far superior in possession to what we were. So we would be a little bit worried about either of those."Also Portugal, the 27th-ranked team, they were one of the highlights of the Euros for me.
The excitement they bring to their play... we haven't really faced a technical team like them. We've come up against the Finns and Swedes who are direct and powerful but they are predictable."Portugal don't play that way so it would be such a different challenge for us to get a team like that."Ideally you're looking at the lower ranked teams there, Bosnia & Herzegovina if they do get through but it's unlikely they'll get through to that second game."The second-round play-off will take place on Tuesday 11 October.Republic of Ireland's possible play-off opponents(World ranking in brackets - Ireland are ranked 26th)Netherlands (6) or Iceland (14) Switzerland (21) or Italy