Republic drawn alongside Portugal and Serbia in World Cup qualifiers
By Daire Walsh
He famously made his Real Madrid debut at the Tallaght Stadium in 2009 and Cristiano Ronaldo is now set for a return to Dublin after Portugal were drawn alongside the Republic of Ireland in Group A of the European qualification section for the 2022 World Cup.
The second highest goalscorer in international football history, Ronaldo is one of several top-class operators within the Portuguese ranks. Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United), Bernardo Silva (Manchester City) and Diogo Jota (Liverpool) are familiar to followers of the Premier League, while Danilo Pereira is currently on loan at French giants Paris Saint-Germain.
Joining Ireland and Portugal in the five-team group are Serbia, Luxembourg and Azerbaijan. Despite being the third seeds, Tallaght native Stephen Kenny will be relatively content with the way the draw has panned out.
He is still searching for his first win as Republic boss, but will undoubtedly target four wins from their games against Luxembourg and Azerbaijan – ranked 98th and 109th in the world respectively.
Current European champions Portugal will be the clear favourites to top the group, with Serbia and Ireland expected to battle it out for second spot.
Like the Republic, the Serbs recently suffered penalty heartache in a play-off for next year’s European Championships – at the hands of Scotland in their case.
This arguably puts them on an equal footing but having spent the past 23 years of his life in football management, Kenny will be aware that a lot can change between now and their first qualification game on March 24.