MARTIN O’NEILL hopes a Georgia victory over Scotland on Friday night will re-ignite the Republic of Ireland’s Euro 2016 chances but revealed he won’t be “worrying himself into oblivion” about matters outwith his control.
The Irish head into their double-header with Gibraltar and Georgia in fourth place in Group D, two points behind Gordon Strachan’s side following the teams’ 1-1 draw in Dublin in June. With the Scots having a better head-to-head record courtesy of their 1-0 win at Celtic Park earlier in the campaign, Ireland are up against it in their bid to guarantee a play-off place for finishing in third place.
A win for Georgia against Scotland in Tbilisi would, therefore, serve as a massive boost for O’Neill and his players but the former Celtic manager is not losing too much sleep fretting over the various permutations.
“We’re in a position where, if we can win all four games, then we qualify automatically,” he said. “It would be nice if something materialised from that [Georgia against Scotland] but I don’t think I can worry myself into oblivion about it. I think the Scottish games are still difficult but it’s up to us to win our two matches. We’ve got to win our matches and focus on that and if we can, then you might see a difference in the table.”
Aiden McGeady has scarcely featured for Everton this season but could still line up for the Republic against Gibraltar in Faro on Friday night.
“I’m not going to be able to do an awful lot about his general fitness in three days,” added O’Neill. “But I’ve got a real good belief about Aiden and I want to transmit that to himself. We’ll have a look at his proper fitness between now and Friday.”
Meanwhile, Joachim Loew, the Germany head coach, warned there would be “no walkovers” as his side face up to a tricky double-header against Poland and Scotland. The reigning world champions endured a surprisingly sticky start to their qualifying campaign – losing in Poland and drawing with Ireland – and Loew knows they cannot afford any more slip-ups.
“It's pretty clear that there will be no walkovers,” he said. "Poland and Scotland are both hoping to qualify for next summer's Euros in France, justifiably so. After a below-par year we are in a little bit of a tricky spot. We are determined to win both games, but we need to invest a lot against both teams. We are confident though and we have the quality to beat both sides."
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