Draw for Europeans - check out Irelands opponents
The Republic of Ireland were handed a very difficult set of fixtures when the draw for the UEFA Championship of 2012 was made today in Warsaw.
Ireland were drawn in a group of six teams and were paired alongside Russia, who are the number one seeds in their Group.
Ireland will take encouragement from the fact that Russia failed to qualify for the finals of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. But the team ranked second in the Group, Slovakia, qualified for South Africa after going close to making it to the previous two World Cups.
Curiously, most of the teams in Ireland's group are east Europeans with Macedonia and Armenia highly dangerous opponents. Andorra are the bottom seeds in the Group.
The result of the draw then meant that Ireland were drawn in Group B alongside Russia, Slovakia, FYR Macedonia, Armenia and Andorra. Records against Opponents - click on score to see match report
Russia
| H / A / N
|
Matches
|
W
|
D
|
L
|
Goals
|
+ / -
|
|
H |
4 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
3 - 3 |
+0 |
|
A |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 - 4 |
-2 |
|
N |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 - 0 |
+0 |
|
Total
|
5
|
1
|
2
|
2
|
5 - 7
|
-2
|
|
Date
|
Comp.
|
H / A / N
|
Final score
|
Stadium
|
Attendance
|
|
06.09.2003
|
European Cup Qualifier |
H
|
1 - 1 |
Lansdowne Road
|
|
|
07.09.2002
|
European Cup Qualifier |
A
|
2 - 4 |
Moscow
|
|
|
13.02.2002
|
Friendly |
H
|
2 - 0 |
Lansdowne Road
|
42500
|
|
27.03.1996
|
Friendly |
H
|
0 - 2 |
Lansdowne Road
|
41600
|
|
23.03.1994
|
Friendly |
H
|
0 - 0 |
Lansdowne Road
|
34000
|
Slovakia | H / A / N
|
Matches
|
W
|
D
|
L
|
Goals
|
+ / -
|
|
H |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 - 0 |
+1 |
|
A |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 - 2 |
+0 |
|
N |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 - 0 |
+0 |
|
Total
|
2
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
3 - 2
|
+1
|
|
Date
|
Comp.
|
H / A / N
|
Final score
|
Stadium
|
Attendance
|
|
08.09.2007
|
European Cup Qualifier |
A
|
2 - 2 |
Slovak Stadium, Bratislava
|
12360
|
|
28.03.2007
|
European Cup Qualifier |
H
|
1 - 0 |
Croke Park
|
71297
|
Macedonia | H / A / N
|
Matches
|
W
|
D
|
L
|
Goals
|
+ / -
|
|
H |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
4 - 0 |
+4 |
|
A |
2 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
3 - 4 |
-1 |
|
N |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 - 0 |
+0 |
|
Total
|
4
|
2
|
1
|
1
|
7 - 4
|
+3
|
|
Date
|
Comp.
|
H / A / N
|
Final score
|
Stadium
|
Attendance
|
|
09.10.1999
|
European Cup Qualifier |
A
|
1 - 1 |
Gradski, Skopje
|
4500
|
|
09.06.1999
|
European Cup Qualifier |
H
|
1 - 0 |
Lansdowne Road
|
28108
|
|
02.04.1997
|
World Cup Qualifier |
A
|
2 - 3 |
City Stadium Skopje
|
8000
|
|
09.10.1996
|
World Cup Qualifier |
H
|
3 - 0 |
Lansdowne Road
|
31671
|
Andorra | H / A / N
|
Matches
|
W
|
D
|
L
|
Goals
|
+ / -
|
|
H |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
3 - 1 |
+2 |
|
A |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 - 0 |
+0 |
|
N |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
3 - 0 |
+3 |
|
Total
|
2
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
6 - 1
|
+5
|
|
Date
|
Comp.
|
H / A / N
|
Final score
|
Stadium
|
Attendance
|
|
25.04.2001
|
World Cup Qualifier |
H
|
3 - 1 |
Lansdowne Road
|
34000
|
|
28.03.2001
|
World Cup Qualifier |
N
|
3 - 0 |
Barcelona
|
5000
|
| 
