Republic of Ireland braced for testing Nations League

The Republic of Ireland's attempt to banish the pain of Prague and their penalty shootout defeat against Czech Republic that cost them a place in the summer's World Cup really begins this month.

Heimir Hallgrimsson's side have played four friendlies since that loss, beating Grenada and Qatar and drawing with North Macedonia and Canada, but Thursday's Nations League opener against Kosovo in Pristina will be their first competitive game since that fateful night in March.

It will also feature the return of a more familiar-looking Irish squad after some experimentation in the summer, in a new-look international window, with four games in 12 days.

Hallgrimsson's side will take on Kosovo, Israel twice and Austria in that timeframe and, ahead of a busy spell, BBC Sport NI looks at how the squad and the respective opposition are shaping up.

Hallgrimsson has named a 26-man squad to try and cope with the extra demands of this extended window.

He is without captain Nathan Collins through a calf injury, which is a blow as he has been first-choice when fit to marshal the back three.

Jack Taylor and Mikey Johnston join long-term absentees Evan Ferguson and Josh Cullen, while Oisin McEntee missed out on a first call-up through injury.

Hallgrimsson also confirmed that some players named in the squad are currently nursing injuries or working their way back to full fitness including Jimmy Dunne, Bosun Lawal and Owen Elding, while QPR's Harvey Vale and Hibernian's Jamie McGrath were injured in the warm-up before their clubs' respective games on Saturday and played no part.

Experienced duo Seamus Coleman and Robbie Brady were not considered for selection as they are without clubs.

Sheffield United loanee Liam Kitching has been handed his first call-up while uncapped Cardiff City defender Joel Bagan and Elding of Hibs are in contention to win their first caps.

Hallgrimsson is likely to use if not all, then a large portion of his squad throughout the four games given the schedule and to try to grow some depth, which is much needed in the full-back areas and in midfield.

Few Irish players will be coming into the squad as confident as Troy Parrott, the hero of the previous qualifying campaign, who has taken seamlessly to life in La Liga with Real Betis.

The 24-year-old opened his account for the club by coming off the bench to stab home the winner against Real Madrid earlier this month.

He followed that up with another winning goal a few days later, this time on his Champions League debut to seal a 3-2 victory for Betis away to Lille and he then provided an assist against Getafe.

He has hit the ground running in Spain and will hope to continue his goalscoring exploits on the international stage, where he has firmly established himself as first-choice striker.

Hull City's John Egan and Swansea City's Adam Idah are two other players heading into the break in fine form.

Egan has been a mainstay for the Tigers in their positive start to life back in the Premier League and is pushing to start with Collins out, while Idah has three goals and an assist in eight Championship games for the Swans.

Republic of Ireland's performance in the Nations League will have a lasting impact on their Euro 2028 qualification campaign, so results are important.

Should they finish top of the group, they will earn promotion into League A.

Should they finish second they will have a play-off with a third-placed team from League A to try and win promotion.

More importantly, finishing first or second will also guarantee that the Republic of Ireland will be a pot two side when the draw for the Euro 2028 qualifiers is made in Belfast in December, which, in theory, could present them with a kinder draw.

Should they finish third, they will remain in League B, while if they finish bottom of the group they will have a play-off against a second-placed team from League C, which, if they lost they would then suffer relegation to the third tier of the Nations League.

A third or fourth-placed finish in their group would mean the Republic of Ireland would be placed in pot three for the Euro 2028 qualifiers and they may be paired with two European heavy hitters which could make their path to the tournament much tougher.

A good performance in the Nations League could also offer a route to qualification for the tournament if the Irish fail to qualify automatically.

The best performing teams in the Nations League that do not qualify for the Euros in the qualification campaign will enter play-offs to earn the final qualifying spots for the tournament.

As Hallgrimsson put it when talking through the scenarios: "Our seeding for the Euros depends on the Nations League".

"League A will mean better opponents and would be better financially for FAI [Football Association of Ireland] and there is an escape route to the Euros from the Nations League, so lots of reasons we want to do really well in these Nations League matches," he added.

Hallgrimsson will hope his side can get off to a positive start in a tricky away test against Kosovo, whose build-up to the game has been far from smooth.

Franco Foda's side, who are in League B for the first time, will be without their captain and one of their best players, Amir Rrahmanhi.

The Napoli defender has decided to retire abruptly from international football because of a fallout with the Football Federation of Kosovo.

The 32-year-old, who has won 66 caps during his 10 years as a Kosovo international, delivered a scathing Instagram statement announcing his decision to step away, accusing the association of "constant, co-ordinated attacks" against him.

In more positive news, Foda has handed a first call-up to exciting Bayern Munich youngster Erblin Osmani, who chose to represent Kosovo earlier this month.

He became Bayern's second youngest ever player in the Bundesliga at 16 years and 306 days when he came on in a 4-0 victory over Union Berlin earlier this year.

The excitement around the potential of the youngster is such that Kosovo's ambassador to Germany, Faruk Ajeti, posted on social media to confirm that Osmani will play for the country after presenting the midfielder with his Kosovo passport, before the player had even announced his decision.

The Republic of Ireland will also face two controversial games against Israel in this window with both being played at neutral venues.

In purely footballing terms, they represent two tough fixtures against a side that featured in League A of the last edition of the Nations League, before factoring in the context around them.

Israel's 'home' game will take place in Hungary on 27 September, and the reverse fixture in Serbia on 4 October.

The FAI confirmed its 'home' tie would be played behind closed doors, while no tickets will be made available for Irish fans for their 'away' game, such is the feeling of unease in the country at the games going ahead.

Hallgrimsson said on Thursday that he spoke to players in his squad individually about the prospect of facing Israel, and "none of us feel comfortable playing in these games" while acknowledging they have to stick together to get through them.

At an extraordinary general meeting in July, delegates backed an FAI motion to proceed with the games amid concerns that boycotting would cause "significant and lasting harm" for the association.

However, the decision has come under increasing pressure, with a 'Stop The Game' campaign launched by Irish Sport for Palestine calling for a boycott and the noise around the two games will undoubtedly get louder and more difficult to manage as they get closer.

In between their games against Israel, Republic of Ireland will have a home game against Austria at the Aviva Stadium.

The Austria side they will face is missing three pillars of the team for the last decade in Marko Arnautovic, David Alaba and Marcel Sabitzer.

Arnautovic, Austria's most capped player and top goal scorer, decided to retire from international football after the country were knocked out of the World Cup at the last 32 stage.

Alaba, Austria's captain at the tournament, is omitted as he is currently without a club after leaving Real Madrid in the summer.

A four-time Champions League winner, he has been blighted by injuries in recent seasons, missing 109 games for club and country over the last three years but he did play all four of Austria's games at the World Cup.

Sabitzer, meanwhile, has decided to take a break from representing his country and will be absent for the entire Nations League campaign.

Given their respective ages, a changing of the guard within the next year felt inevitable and former Manchester United manager Ralf Rangnick has decided to use the Nations League to start bringing through the next generation.

Whether Hallgrimsson will be tempted to do likewise with his squad, with so much riding on his side performing well in these games, will be another intriguing subplot of this testing window on and off the pitch.