David Meyler is adamant that he and the rest of the Irish players have come too far to let their dream of a place at next summer’s World Cup go without a huge fight and the midfielder believes, he says, that the team will get to Russia.
“Look, of course, it’s the stuff you dream of as a kid,” says the midfielder who captained Ireland in Wales and may well take the armband back as he returns from suspension for the home game against Denmark. “Everybody wants to play at a World Cup.
“I have memories of the ‘94 World Cup,” he continues, “of running around the house in an Ireland top. Looking back at the sacrifices I have had to go through, to have this opportunity, to be 90 minutes away from a World Cup is huge.
“I don’t want to go out, none of us do. We want to qualify. And we will do everything within our power to make sure we do.”
The Irish are, he says, in a pretty decent position given all that happened over the course of the campaign. After a strong start in a tough group they struggled through the early part of 2017 and took just two points from three games at home against qualification rivals. To be where they are now, he insists, however, is as much as they could realistically have hoped for.
Perform
“If you look back when we started the campaign, Serbia away, this is where we wanted to be. This was the goal. Obviously the Euros was a great experience and we can draw on that but we need to just go and perform tomorrow night and I believe fully that we will be going to Russia.
“It’s simple. We have got to go and win a game of football. Every game we go into, we approach it the same way. Even the game away in Denmark, the lad [Thomas Delaney] said it was like trying to open a can of beans with your hand and tomorrow night, we’re not going to be easy to beat.
“We want to go and win the game. We want to qualify for the World Cup. We’re not going to lie openly and let Denmark roll us over.
“We just need to go out and perform, we need to score goals and I believe we will.”
