After a two-week coaching course at Lilleshall and a couple of favourable results in Cardiff and Hamburg, Steve Staunton will head for home tomorrow a little better qualified to do his job and a little more optimistic, perhaps, about his prospects of achieving his most immediate goal in it, writes Emmet Malone, Soccer Correspondent

"We want Germany to win all their games, bar one in Dublin next October, so their victory over Slovakia was a good result for us," said Staunton yesterday.

"It's still a three-horse race between ourselves, the Czechs and Slovakia for the second qualifying spot in the group," he continued. "If Slovakia beat us in September they are right back in it so they can't be written off just yet. There are a lot of big games to be played between the top four."

In reality, Germany appear to have all but ended Slovakia's hopes of being in Austria or Switzerland this time next year, even if the Slovaks retain the capacity to do the same to the Irish come September.

The Czechs have also made their journey to the finals a good deal less certain by failing to win in Cardiff, although it remains hard to see how the Republic can qualify for Euro 2008 without beating at least one of Group D's two top teams in the autumn.

One thing is clear. Wednesday's win for Joachim Loew's men means that Germany, with Wales to play both home and away as well as games against Cyprus, the Czech Republic and Ireland still to come, are virtually certain to top this group.

"We're unbeaten in qualifying for Euro 2008," said a clearly satisfied Loew after his side's latest victory. "Not many teams have done that post-World Cup."

The German coach was entitled to be pleased with his side's progress. They may not have played especially well this week but they have a healthy habit of doing enough and included in the six group wins they have run up since last summer are 3-0 and 4-1 successes away to the Czechs and Slovaks respectively.

On Wednesday, there was the added bonus from Loew's point of view that victory was achieved without the likes of Michael Ballack, Lukas Podolski or Bastian Schweinsteiger. Indeed, the winning goal in Hamburg came from Thomas Hitzlsperger, who is one of a number of players to break into the team under the current manager. "It's a real success for us that we've managed to bring on so many young players after the World Cup," said Loew. "Players like Marcell Jansen, Hitzlsperger and Mario Gomez have taken big steps forward and we can be proud of that. Our goal for the new season will be to make improvements on an individual basis. Of course, there is work to do on our tactics as well but improving individually is now the target."

Slovakia, as it happens, probably have the easiest run-in, with San Marino to play twice, both Ireland and Wales on home territory and just one really tough looking away game, in Prague in mid-November. Now five points behind their neighbours, however, and four adrift of Ireland, it is extremely hard to see how Jan Kocian's side could make up the required ground on both teams to grab second place.

That leaves the Czechs and the Irish to contest what now looks a straight two-way duel for the second qualification spot, with Staunton's men needing to overcome a one-point and seven-goal disadvantage over the course of their remaining five matches if they are to bag the prize. It will not, needless to say, be easy.

For a start, the Czechs resume their campaign in September with a trip to San Marino where they should manage to put their recent lethargy behind them and extend, at least in terms of the goal difference, the gap between the two sides. They then play host to the Irish before wrapping up their campaign with games against Germany, Slovakia and Cyprus.

At least three of those five games should yield maximum points. Aside from San Marino, the Slovaks were well beaten away and should really succumb in Prague after which, if all is still going to plan, Karel Brückner and his men would travel to Nicosia confident of doing what neither Ireland nor Germany has managed there, winning.

In contrast, the Irish appear to have just one group game after the summer that might be regarded as approaching a banker and that's against a side that won 5-2 when the two sides met last October.

In the event that the Czechs do beat San Marino, Slovakia and Cyprus, however, Staunton's men are almost certainly going to have to win four of their remaining five games, with at least a draw required in the Czech capital.

It's an enormously tall order for a team without a competitive home win over highly ranked opponents since the Netherlands game at Lansdowne Road in September 2001 and one that hasn't beaten even modestly impressive opponents in a qualifier on foreign soil since a 1-0 in Glasgow just over 20 years ago.

There is no particular reason to suspect that the latter run will end in September, although Slovakia have not come close so far to reproducing the sort of form they showed in the last World Cup campaign. And even a good day in Bratislava, seems unlikely to spare Staunton from being haunted by the thought that qualification was blown by one unqualified disaster, those 90 chaotic minutes in Nicosia.