Qualification goes down to the wire

The Republic of Ireland's win last night kept Mick McCarthy's side firmly in the Group Eight qualification race for next summer's Euro 2000 finals in Belgium and the Netherlands.

A 73rd minute goal from Steve Staunton gave the Irish a desperately needed but scarcely deserved victory over the Maltese. Deserved or not, the win moved the Irish into second spot in their group on 15 points - one adrift of leaders Yugoslavia, who beat Macedonia 4-2 yesterday, and one ahead of the Croatians in third place.

With one team qualifying automatically from the group and one likely to go through play-offs between the various second-placed nations, the group will be now be decided by the final round of games. If the Yugoslavs can win in Zagreb in mid-October then they will be assured of first place in the group with the Irish standing an outside chance of qualifying as the best second-placed team from the nine groups if they beat Macedonia away on the same day.

But the Croatians have not lost a game in their capital city since independence and in the event that the Yugoslavs fail to win there then a win for Ireland in Skopje would be enough to guarantee their place at next summer's finals.

Should Ireland prove unable to take three points from their last fixture, they will not top the group or finish as the best second-placed team overall. However if Croatia don't win, McCarthy's side go through to the play-offs regardless of the result in Skopje. After the match, central defender Kenny Cunningham said: "We realise that it's out of our hands a little bit to the extent that if Yugoslavia win their game then they go through, but if that's too difficult an assignment for them then we're in with a great chance of qualifying automatically."