IRELAND manager Martin O’Neill has stressed that gaining experience against testing opposition is more important than his side’s FIFA ranking.
Rankings released yesterday show Ireland have fallen four spots to 70th in the world, from a previous high of sixth. 70th is the lowest Ireland have been since the system was launched in 1993.
Bolivia, Albania, El Salvador and Poland have all past Ireland in the last month.
“Funny how stats quickly mount up,” said O’Neill. “We’re playing some friendly games, and we’ve chosen the opposition, so this conversation was going to come up at some stage. My view is that we should have won the past three games, the Serbia game we missed some great chances, likewise against Turkey and the Italy game... we definitely should have won.”
“Without being pernickety, if that’s the case [that rankings are all-important], over the next couple of years, I’ll pick the easiest opposition at home to play if that helps. That’s not how I see it.
“You said the [ranking] took place over [four] years — I’ve been in the job seven months and we’ve chosen pretty difficult games here. Not that it matters to me but if we’d gone the other way, if you give me three or four teams we could have beaten, I’m not sure that would be the best preparation for the European Championships. Do I think this is the best preparation? I do, yes.”
