The prospect of the Republic of Ireland facing either qualification rivals Portugal or neighbours England in next summer's World Cup finals was revived yesterday when FIFA unveiled a seeding system for Saturday's draw in Busan.
The Irish were, as expected, made second seeds, but under the complicated arrangements arrived at by the world body's officials yesterday, only the four European sides handed top seedings can be sure of not meeting each other in next summer's group stages.
After all of the top seeds have been allocated to their respective groups (France and the two host nations already have been), each of the eight groups will be allocated one of the 11 European sides from the draw's second pot.
No groups will have more than two UEFA qualifiers, though, and so the remaining Europeans will then be randomly assigned to three of the four groups that have either Asian or South American top seeds.
After that it will more or less be a straight draw, although the South American countries will be divided equally between the two host nations, while China have been told that they will definitely play in South Korea to facilitate the large number of fans (estimated at 75,000) they will bring to the finals.
"It's complicated every time," said FIFA general secretary Michel Zen Ruffinen. "But the organisers want the tournament to be a success financially as well as politically, and that means ensuring that the co-hosts get the same number of strong teams and big games. The draw will be fair but we can't ignore these conditions."
His remarks were in answer to queries from the English media who were disappointed that their team had missed out on a seeding despite being ranked in the top eight according to the criteria employed by the organisers.
That, as it did four years ago, involved attaching a weighting to each nation's respective performance in the last three World Cups, with France '98 counting three times as highly as Italia '90. World rankings over the past three years were then also included in the calculations, which ended up being hellishly complicated.
At the end of it all, Mexico and England lost out, with the latter's failure to qualify for the finals in America ultimately costing them a top seeding.
Pressed about England's fate, Zen Ruffinen observed: "If we'd used other criteria, England could have been in the top five, but we can't do these things just to suit one country and the fact that they were behind Mexico means that it's not really an issue for us."
In effect, this means that England could end up in a group with Germany or Ireland but not both, while the fortunes of Mick McCarthy's side could vary wildly on Saturday.
In theory, the Republic could end up in a group containing Brazil or Argentina, England or Portugal as well as Mexico, all of whom are currently in the world's top 10. Alternatively they could be placed in one containing a host nation, Ecuador and an African nation, all of whom would be ranked 35 or worse. Ireland are currently ranked 18 on the world ladder.
Naturally enough, though, it was the possibility of another early encounter with England that grabbed most attention yesterday. The Republic's Kenny Cunningham was one of several players to suggest that a clash with Sven Goran-Eriksson's side might not be such an unwelcome prospect, with the Wimbledon defender pointing to the Republic's strong performances against their old rivals in the past.
"They've come a long way under Sven-Goran Eriksson and we'd respect them in the same way we would any team, but we'd have no reason to fear them," he said.
"We've made a habit of performing beyond ourselves for the really big games in the past, and so a draw like that could end up working to our advantage.
"You have no idea what will happen in these circumstances, but even if we were to be drawn against Brazil we'd give it our best and see what happens."
Likewise, Cunningham insisted that, having emerged unbeaten from two games against Portugal - over the past year, the prospect of a third would not be so terrible.
"They matured as a team over the past year and they'll fancy themselves to progress, but I'd like to think we could do well against them again if it came to it."
FIFA have confirmed, meanwhile, that there will be the usual amnesty regarding outstanding yellow cards going into the championships, although any player with a suspension currently hanging over them will have to serve it.
This means that the bookings picked up by Robbie Keane and Jason McAteer in Iran will be scrubbed, and all of the Irish players will go into the tournament with a clear disciplinary record.
ODDS FOR THE 32 QUALIFIERS
Argentina 7/2, France 9/2, Brazil 7/1, England 7/1, Italy 7/1, Spain 12/1, Germany 16/1, Portugal 16/1, Nigeria 33/1, Cameroon 40/1, Paraguay 40/1, Sweden 40/1, Poland 50/1, Russia 50/1,
Republic of Ireland 66/1, Belgium 66/1, Croatia 66/1, Denmark 66/1, Japan 66/1, Uruguay 66/1, South Africa 80/1, Ecuador 80/1, Mexico 80/1, Turkey 80/1,
South Korea 100/1, Senegal 100/1, Slovenia 100/1, United States 125/1, Costa Rica 150/1, Tunisia 150/1, China 200/1, Saudi Arabia 250/1. (Courtesy William Hill)
Saturday's Draw: How they line out
POT 1 (Seeds)
France, South Korea, Japan, Brazil, Argentina, Italy, Germany, Spain
POT 2
(The 11 remaining European teams)
Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, England, Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Slovenia, Sweden, Turkey
POT 3
Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay, China, Saudi Arabia.
POT 4
Cameroon, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tunisia, Costa Rica, Mexico, United States.
