The Republic of Ireland are hoping to yet avoid a demoralising relegation to the third tier of the Nations League as they prepare to discover their play-off opponents this week.
It was a mostly torrid campaign for The Boys in Green, who lost all but two of their matches in Group B2 and shipped 12 goals in the process.
Ireland were beaten home and away by both promoted England and runners-up Greece, thumped 5-0 at Wembley in their final game last weekend following a woeful second-half collapse that left Icelandic manager Heimir Hallgrimsson “lost for words”.
However, an Evan Ferguson winner against Finland three days before in Dublin to go along with their dramatic late 2-1 victory in Helsinki in October means they avoid direct demotion into League C and will instead contest a tense relegation/promotion play-off.
The League B/C play-offs will see the four third-placed finishers from the groups in League B go up against the four runners-up from the groups in League C in two-legged play-off ties, the winners of which will be in League B and the losers in League C.
The current League B nations are all seeded for Friday’s draw – which takes place from 11am GMT at Uefa headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland – and each paired with an unseeded promotion hopeful from League C, with the seeded teams all at home in the second legs.
Who can Republic of Ireland face in the Nations League play-offs?
The Republic of Ireland are joined in the play-offs by Slovenia, Georgia and Iceland from League B.
They could end up meeting Slovakia, who pushed Sweden for automatic promotion from Group C1 but crucially lost 2-1 in Solna last month to end up finishing as runners-up.
Another potential opponent is Kosovo, whose place as runners-up in Group C2 has now been confirmed after their abandoned match against Romania in Bucharest last week was subsequently awarded as a 3-0 win for the latter.
Ireland could also face Bulgaria, who finished second behind Northern Ireland in Group C3 despite Michael O’Neill’s side throwing away a two-goal lead in Luxembourg in their final game.
Lastly it could be Armenia, who finished a distant second to dominant North Macedonia in Group C4 with only two wins to their name from six matches but crucially ahead of both the Faroe Islands and Latvia.