Heimir Hallgrimsson says Ireland must improve to qualify for 2026 World Cup

Heimir Hallgrimsson has warned the Republic of Ireland they will need to be better than they were in Nations League victory over Finland if they want to qualify for the 2026 World Cup finals.

Evan Ferguson’s header secured a 1-0 win over the Finns, who they beat 2-1 in Helsinki last month, to send Ireland into Sunday’s final League B2 fixture against England – 3-0 winners in Greece – at Wembley on a high.

However, they needed Caoimhin Kelleher’s second-half penalty save to preserve their clean sheet, while Finland also hit the woodwork.

Hallgrimsson said: “We are not jumping for joy today. I think we could have done much better than we did. Obviously, it was enough to win and that is a good thing.

“But we know we need to work a lot as a unit, as a group to progress, because if we want to qualify for the World Cup, we need to beat teams that are higher-ranked than us and get points from them, and I would say with this performance, we probably wouldn’t.

“But it was enough today and that’s good, and we’ll build on that. It’s good to have a win for the spirit and I think these players need to experience that as often as they can.

“But we’re under no illusion we need to improve.”

If Ferguson’s goal – a close-range header from Mikey Johnston’s inch-perfect cross – proved decisive, it would not have had Kelleher not dived to his right to keep out substitute Joel Pohjanpalo’s second-half penalty, awarded for handball against Ferguson after a VAR review.

That provided the Liverpool keeper with sweet redemption after his error in Athens last month handed Greece a second goal to kill off Ireland’s chances of snatching a draw.

Hallgrimsson said: “He really answered for that today. His all-round performance was really good and I’m so