Malta v Republic of Ireland: All you need to know

INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLY

Malta v Republic of Ireland, Sunday 20 November, Ta'Qali National Stadium, 7pm

TV

Watch live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player from 6.30pm after coverage of the opening 2022 World Cup fixture between Qatar and Ecuador.

ONLINE

Live tracker on RTÉ.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app. Updates and match highlights on RTÉ Soccer Twitter and RTÉ Sport Facebook.

WEATHER

There will be highs of 17 degrees Celsius in Malta, with winds becoming strong; variably cloudy and cooler with a couple of showers and a thunderstorm.

A MUST-WIN IN MALTA

If the Euro 2024 qualifying draw was meant to provide solace after a decidedly mixed UEFA Nations League campaign, those hopes were dashed when Stephen Kenny's charges were dropped into a group featuring heavyweights France and the Netherlands.

Those fixtures, as well as games against Greece and Gibraltar, are all to come next year.

And to prepare for it, friendlies against Norway and Malta were arranged for this month. The Norwegians have already been to the Aviva Stadium and came away with a 2-1 win without star striker Erling Haaland on Thursday which leaves Ireland heading to Malta in search of a morale boost before the daunting visit of the French to Dublin on 27 March 2023.

This time last year, Ireland made sure there would be optimism going into 2022 when they held Portugal to a draw and then exacted revenge in Luxembourg with a 3-0 win.

While the jury is out on how much that has been built on amid highs such as beating Scotland 3-0 and the lows of a loss in Armenia, a victory over perennial minnows Malta is a must for Kenny and his team.

Sunday's opponents may be ranked 168th in the world but their recent form against teams of similar standing to themselves this year have actually been pretty