Ireland will be ready to challenge for top spot in World Cup campaign, says Heimir Hallgrimsson

"I'm not going to tell you to book flights to the USA, but start looking," said Heimir Hallgrimsson following the World Cup qualifying draw in Zurich on Friday.

The Ireland manager is taking a positive approach to the 2025 qualifiers, and while he was far from cocky about his side’s chances of reaching the World Cup, he knows that things could have been a lot worse.

Portugal or Denmark will complete Ireland’s group in March when they meet in the Nations League – the winner will join – while there was a certain element of relief that Ireland were not dealt one of the real big hitters from the top pot.

Germany and England were the two that Hallgrimsson was happy to avoid as he feels that they are the type of teams that make light work of qualifying campaigns, regularly going through unscathed.

Portugal, of course, are ranked sixth in the world and on paper possess one of the strongest squads in world football, yet the manager does not see much difference between the two, even though Denmark are currently outside the top 20.

The technical superiority of the Iberian side is countered by the cohesive nature of the Danes, who Hallgrimsson believes are a very strong collective.

Hungary are the second seed in the group and will provide tough opposition, yet equally, Hallgrimsson feels that they will take points from the top seed, which pushes the door open a bit wider for Ireland to attempt to get through.

Ireland also have a recent victory over Hungary to help take confidence into the campaign, and while it was a friendly affair, the opposition had a strong team as they were en route to Euro 2024.

Hallgrimsson is hoping for a fast start to the campaign, which he feels will go by in a flash, as the four-team nature will result in a