Thousands of fans travel to Prague for World Cup play-off

Thousands of Irish fans are making a pilgrimage to Prague this week as Ireland try to qualify for their first World Cup in 24 years.

More fans will watch the game in the centre of the Czech capital than in the Fortuna Arena, with only around 1,200 tickets allocated to Irish supporters in a stadium which seats around 20,000 people.

More than a dozen flights are departing Dublin for Czechia this week, almost half of them are additional services. But many more fans are making their way to Prague via other European airports and are expected to descend on the Czech capital by road and rail between now and Thursday.

Gary Spain, Supporter Liaison Officer for the Republic of Ireland men's team, said he expects at least 6,000 Irish fans to be in Prague for one of the biggest games in a generation.

There is no formal fan zone for the travelling supporters and although the Czech capital is said to have more Irish pubs per capita than anywhere else in the world, he believes there may not be enough of them to accommodate all the Irish who arrive in the city

"There aren't enough pubs I think in Prague's Old Town for everyone to watch the match in a pub," he said.

He said the 1,024 Irish fans who were allocated away end tickets along with an estimated 200 friends and family of players who have acquired tickets, will make their voices heard in the home stadium of Slavia Prague.

"They've gone to the fans that have been to the most away games. So it's those who have been to six of the last ten under subscribed away games have been guaranteed a ticket, and those on five were in the ballot for tickets, that's the way they've been allocated. They will definitely make their voices heard wherever you go, the Irish fans will always be heard," he said.

'It won't be a beautiful game by any means'

An Irish man who will not be there on the night, but knows the Fortuna Arena and Czech football well, is Killarney native Diarmuid O’Carroll, who is currently the Assistant Manager of Czech football giants Sparta Prague.

He is also the assistant to Michael O’Neill’s Northern Ireland team and will be in Italy for his own game on Thursday, but believes the Republic of Ireland squad will have a tough task against a determined Czech side

"It's a very hostile environment. They create that for the Champions League games.

"They create that for the domestic games. I would envisage something very, very similar. It'll be a loud, whistley, kind of aggressive nature to the game," said Mr O'Carroll.

He added: "They're very passionate. They're very hard working, very physical.

"There'll be an element of aggression within the stadium, and an aggression with how they play. It'll be a physical game. It won't be a beautiful football game by any means. They'll make it a little bit horrible."

In the past week the Czech FA cleared its domestic calendar to allow the players, almost half of whom play for their national league, to concentrate on the World Cup qualifier and after a period of turmoil which saw them change manager mid campaign, Czechia are now focused on progressing past the Ireland game to take on either Denmark or North Macedonia.

The current Czechia manager has described his squad as "soldiers" and the game they’re are entering into as "war".

Mr O’Carroll said this shows the extent of the pressure on the home side.

"Czech people are brilliant but they are passionate and they demand success, because the two clubs have done quite well in European competitions, ourselves and Slavia over the years.

"So I think they'll be they'll be adamant that they expect to go through, they'll be looking to do the business. I think there is an assumption that they will go through and I think that's maybe a little bit disrespectful to our team," he said.

Ireland go into this game as underdogs and after their unexpected success against both Portugal and Hungary they will need to be a third time lucky to make it through to the final qualifying game next Tuesday.

But Mr Spain believes it is possible that Ireland can secure a place in its first World Cup in more than two decades in the US, Canada and Mexico this summer.

"I think we can. I mean, I'm really, really hoping we can. World Cups are just so special. I'm conscious of the younger fans that have never had the chance to see us in a World Cup. It would be absolutely massive. And I'm sure everyone will be dreaming of Guadalajara on the 11 June," he said.

Mr O'Carroll said while the odds are stacked against Ireland, he hopes they can prevail over his current homeland.

"I think if I was going purely analytical, I'd say it could go 2-1 either way. But listen, I'm Irish, I want them to succeed, I want to go through.

"So I think we could catch them, probably with a little bit of arrogance, a little bit of overconfidence and we'll say 2-1 to Ireland on the night," he said.

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