Serbia vs Republic of Ireland - O'Neill wary of Ireland being left behind in World Cup race

Posted Monday, September 05, 2016 by PA

Martin O'Neill has warned the Republic of Ireland they cannot afford to be left trailing in the race for World Cup qualification if they are to stand a chance of making it to Russia.

The Republic launch their campaign in Serbia on Monday with manager O'Neill believing Group D could be the most keenly contested of the European qualifying round with the pair battling it out against Wales, Austria, Georgia and Moldova for one automatic berth.

Ireland, Wales and Austria all made it through to the Euro 2016 finals and the 64-year-old is predicting it will go down to the wire with the winner collecting fewer points than their counterparts in other groups.

Asked if his side had to win the group to qualify, O'Neill said: "There's only one team certain of qualification, so your mindset should be set to that, as is Serbia's, as is Wales', as is Austria's, every single side. If you were to go to Georgia tonight, you'd think these games are difficult.

"But we can win our home matches and we can grab some points away from home. Everybody will be going in with that mindset.

"Three of our first four games are away from home. We need to stay in the competition before we actually even get into it, and these games are tough.

"We are away to Serbia, home to Georgia, away to Moldova and away to Austria before Christmas. Those are tough matches, really tough games.

"I think this will be so tight. Teams will take points from each other. We could end up with the lowest number of points. But if you end up on top, where you want to be, then does that matter?

"But to speak about being top now at this minute would be ludicrous for me."

Serbia will be without suspended duo Aleksandar Kolarov and Nemanja Matic for the game at the Crvena Zvezda Stadium - known by the locals in Belgrade as the Marakana - but O'Neill is expecting a tough test.

He said: "Great players like that will probably be missed for a while, but I think Serbia have the talent to be able to make sure that the other players coming in are right up to the game."

Serbia skipper Branislav Ivanovic has warned his side the Republic could be their most difficult opponents on the road to the finals.

While the Republic may no longer be able to call upon Robbie Keane, they do still have threats and Ivanovic has seen enough of the likes of Shane Long and Jonathan Walters in the Premier League to know he and his team-mates will have their hands full.

He said: "Ireland is a very difficult opponent to start the qualification with - I would say the most difficult, probably - but if we play like we did and like we have trained for this type of play, then we can do well.

"Ireland is an opponent that needs to be respected, that demands respect, and what I am especially impressed about is their level of continuity.

"They have been playing together for a while, there's a nice mix of young players and players with experience, and it might be the fact that I have played in the Premier League for so long that I understand how difficult an opponent Ireland really is.

"They are aggressive and they make up for any faults that the team might have by giving their all every second, and each of the players - and especially the two that you mentioned (Long and Walters) - are very difficult to defend against."