[quote author=Stu link=topic=36197.msg963763#msg963763 date=1255700958]
The Republic of Ireland will not be seeded when the draw for the World Cup play-offs are made on Monday.
The latest Fifa rankings leave Ireland in 34th place, meaning France, Russia, Portugal and Greece will be seeded for the two-legged play-off matches.
The top four teams will face either Giovanni Trapattoni's Ireland, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Ukraine or Slovenia.
The draw will be made at 1300 BST in Zurich with the two legs to be played on 14 November and 18 November.
Trapattoni's team finished second in Group Eight to qualify for the play-offs and he believes they can beat any of the four seeded teams.
"This team can play against anyone if they have belief in our performance, our mentality and our plan," said the Italian.
"We can go into the play-offs feeling confident and with belief if we play as we did against Italy on Saturday.
"We must believe. We have built this team and we can do it."
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Of the 4378161501543156 gripes I have about this about-turn from that Ronaldo-feltching cunterfuck Blatter, the one I probably love the most is how this whole system is based on the absolute joke that are the FIFA rankings. It's like judging Miss World on Stevie Wonder's picks.