Soccer:The Republic of Ireland will meet Oman in London next month, the Football Association of Ireland confirmed this morning. The two sides will meet at Fulham's Craven Cottage on Tuesday, September 11th, four days after Ireland open their World Cup qualifying campaign in Kazakhstan.
“I am looking forward to returning to Craven Cottage for this match which will be a useful opportunity to prepare further for our World Cup qualification campaign,” Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni said this morning.
Oman, currently in 92nd place in the Fifa world rankings, are managed by Paul Le Guen who added: “This match will be a good test for both teams and Craven Cottage is a fantastic Premier League ground that will add to the occasion.”
England, meanwhile, have climbed to third place those Fifa rankings - their highest ever position. Ireland remain in 26th place. England exited Euro 2012 at the quarter-final stage and have failed to reach the last four of a major competition since 1996. Yet they have moved above Uruguay into third in the standings, which are led by Spain with Germany in second place.
South Sudan have entered the rankings for the first time after playing their inaugural full international last month. A 2-2 draw at home to Uganda in a friendly played in Juba on July 10th has put South Sudan 199th in the 209-team table.
