Czech Republic vs Ireland LIVE: Team news ahead of crucial World Cup play-off semi-final – UK Times

The big news from the Czech camp is that West Ham’s Tomas Soucek, recently stripped of the captaincy, looks set to miss out on a place in the starting XI. Patrik Schick is expected to lead the line up front.

Predicted Czech Republic XI: Kovar, Vitik, Hranac, Krejci, Coufal, Darida, Cerv, Zeleny, Karabec, Schick, Provod

In the United Kingdom, the match will be streamed live on Prime Video via pay-per-view. The tie will be available to buy for £2.49, with coverage starting at 7:35pm.

In Ireland, the match will be broadcast on RTE Two and streamed free on RTE Player.

Czech Republic vs Republic of Ireland is due to kick off at 7:45pm GMT on Thursday 26 March at the Fortuna Arena in Prague.

Ireland reached the play-offs in dramatic fashion with memorable wins in November over Portugal and Hungary, with Troy Parrott scoring a stoppage-time winner in Budapest amid incredible scenes. It secured a second-place finish and a play-off spot. Ireland have not played at a World Cup finals since 2002.

Czechia, meanwhile, are also in the play-offs courtesy of a second-place finish in their group behind Croatia, pipping the Faroe Islands to the runner-up spot.

The winner of Thursday’s match – which will go to extra-time and penalties if necessary – will host either Denmark or North Macedonia on Tuesday 31 March for the right to play in the showpiece event this summer. Excruciatingly, the losers of both ties will also face off, in what would amount to a friendly nobody wants to play.

Welcome to The Independent’s coverage of tonight’s World Cup qualifying play-offs.

Here we’ll be covering all things Republic of Ireland as they take on the Czech Republic in the hopes of moving one step closer to securing their place at this summer’s tournament.

We’ll glance over Ireland’s record so far, including their inspiring night against Hungary, and take a look at what victory in tonight’s match would mean for them.

Kick off is at 7.45pm and we’ll have all the team news, build-up and latest updates so stick with us throughout the evening.