Republic of Ireland stalwart Seamus Coleman says he is confident the squad are not carrying the pain of the country’s failed qualifying bids before Thursday’s World Cup play-off semi-final against the Czech Republic.
The Irish suffered agonising World Cup play-off defeats by France and Denmark before the 2010 and 2018 tournaments.
However, Coleman believes the majority of the current squad are too young to be affected by those losses and instead feels they are driven by a desire to create special memories for the Irish fans, thousands of whom have travelled to Prague despite not having a ticket for the match (19:45 GMT).
“It’s difficult to say if it’s fuelling the players, they’re all so young,” said former captain Coleman.
“Obviously the nation was hurt massively, but in terms of the current group of players I don’t think they’re dwelling too much on that hurt.
“To be honest, we’re just riding the wave off the confidence we’ve got as a group, which I think this young group deserves off the last two games. We’re looking forward to Thursday and what comes after that.
“To see how the nation is feeling now is incredible and we’ve a duty to make them even happier.”
