Martin O’Neill’s Ireland squad will face Bosnia and Herzegovina for a place at Euro 2016.
It’s not the Hungary tie that many of the Irish fans were hoping for, but they’ve avoided Zlatan’s Sweden and a tough Ukraine outfit.
For those who didn’t follow the Eastern Europeans’ qualifying campaign too closely, here’s what to look out for.
How they did in qualifying
After making the 2014 World Cup and being drawn in a manageable group – or so it seemed before Gareth Bale went into overdrive – some Bosnian fans will be disappointed to have only scraped third.
As it turned out, they were lucky to even achieve that, needing to come from behind in Cyprus on the final matchday.
They won exactly half of their 10 qualifiers, including a crucial 2-0 victory over a Wales side that had already all-but qualified.
Top scorer
Former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko scored seven goals in qualifying – the same number as Wales’ star-man Bale.
Only four players achieved better across the entire continent, but seeing as one of those four is Zlatan Ibrahimovic, whose Sweden side were another potential play-off opponent, Martin O’Neill may count himself lucky.
No other member of Mehmed Bazdarevic’s squad found the net more than twice across the campaign, which makes it all the more impressive that they got over the line while Dzeko was injured.
Danger man
Dzeko’s club team-mate Miralem Pjanic didn’t find the net during qualifying, but he has been in fine form for Roma in Serie A.
The 25-year-old midfielder has shown his dead-ball prowess on more than one occasion this campaign, firing home free-kicks against Juventus, Carpi and Empoli this season.
He also found the net at the World Cup, scoring one of his country’s three goals in the group stage victory over Iran.
