Ireland XI: Kelleher, Coleman, O’Brien, Collins, O’Shea, Manning, Taylor, Molumby, Azaz, Ogbene, Parrott

Seamus Coleman has warned that the Irish squad are ready for a tough game and are prepared for this play-off.

He said: “It’s going to be tough, it’s going to be fiery out there. Maybe two years ago, it would have been a lot for the young lads to take.

“But I think everyone now has stepped up and are prepared for what’s to come. We absolutely, no doubt about it, understand that it’s going to be a tough game for us but it’s also going to be a tough game for them as well.”

“We’re not overly-analysing them,” Heimir Hallgrimsson admitted.

“We are just focusing on ourselves, trying to build on what we’ve been doing. We all know this coach will have played a different formation from what they have done before, so we’re just planning and preparing for both.

“But we are not overly concerned about what he will throw at us, we know from his past games in his club, what he prefers, if he’s going to do all of those changes to the national team, we just have to see.”

Tonight’s winners will face Denmark or North Macedonia in the play-off final on Tuesday.

Victory there would seal a place at this summer’s finals alongside co-hosts Mexico, South Africa and South Korea in Group A.

Can Republic of Ireland defy the odds and make it to the World Cup proper?

Ladislav Krejci, Czech Republic’s new captain after Tomas Soucek was stripped of the armband, was very confident ahead of tonight’s play-off.

“We will make it,” the 26-year-old Wolves defender said of his country’s bid to reach a first World Cup since 2006.

“We will reach our goal. We will qualify for the World Cup.”

Here’s more pre-match thoughts from Heimir Hallgrimsson who outlined what Ireland need to be aware of for tonight’s match.

“That’s kind of the psychology for a game like this,” he said.

“We all know by now why we got good results and good performances, and that’s the key, not be over-ambitious, stay on point, focus on why we are here and trying to improve that, not only this game, continuously.”

This selection of 23 players will be whittled down even further when the team news drops later in this hour but here’s the full Irish squad tasked with getting past Czech Republic tonight.

Southampton midfielder Finn Azaz spoke to RTE about the magnitude of tonight’s game for Republic of Ireland.

“Yeah, there’s no point in denying it, it’s a huge game but I think our mentality as a team is really strong and I think we know how big it is.

“But we also know that we’re capable of winning the game. The November camp showed us what we’re capable of. We’re going into the knowing how big it is but also with the knowledge of what we’re capable of now.”

It was a moment that caused many Irish people to lose their capacity for rational thought. It was already the kind of high-stakes circumstance where the intensity of emotion overrides everything else, but there was none of that for the man at the centre.

Troy Parrott was alert to everything, which was exactly how he scored the goal that meant everything to a nation dreaming of reaching the Fifa World Cup 2026.

“It’s more of a mental thing,” the 24-year-old says now, sitting in a very relaxed mood in his Amsterdam apartment. “It’s just getting in the box and hoping that the ball is going to fall.”

“It’s important to be ready and visualise what’s ahead of us,” said Republic of Ireland boss Heimir Hallgrimsson.

“It’s important now to do a session at the stadium, for example, just to feel the atmosphere, see the stadium, feel the grass, etc, knowing what to expect, knowing what they are saying and how they see this game.

“And then it’s just tactical, being ready for what they will throw at us and do what we need to do and just remind ourselves why we are in this position, continue to grow and do the same things that we have been doing.”