Inside Track: There could be four teams from this part of the world heading across the Atlantic

Only 16 teams lined up for the 1958 World Cup Finals in Sweden, and as mentioned elsewhere on these pages, Northern Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales were among them.

Northern Ireland and Wales were competing at this stage for the first time, and celebrated by making the quarter-finals, by which stage the England and Scotland players were back home sleeping in their own beds.

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The Republic of Ireland went close to making the trip. Had they done so, England wouldn’t have been there. The two were drawn in the same qualifying group, which England were expected to win easily.

True to form, the Billy Wright-captained side won their first three games, which included a 5-1 trouncing of Ireland at Wembley. But when they came to a packed Dalymount Park for the return leg, it was a much different story.

Alf Ringstead scored early on for Ireland, and after that the home team, backed by a fanatical Dalyer crowd coming up many times with the famous ‘Roar’, defended heroically.....until 60 seconds from full-time.

It was then that the crowd went silent. Tom Finney’s corner was beautifully directed, and Johnny Atyeo was there to nod home. A draw, one goal each.

That was enough to put England through, but having also beaten Denmark at home and away, Ireland would have forced a play-off with the Three Lions had they taken both points at Dalymount.

What are the chances of the same number of countries from around this part of the world being represented in next year’s Finals, going ahead in America, Canada and Mexico?

England and Scotland are sure to be there, and could be joined by two of the other three. It all depends in what happens in the play-offs coming up in late March.

Ireland, having done a job in the qualifiers in a fashion that would make Lazarus look ordinary, are out against the Czech Republic in a semi-final in Prague. If successful, they’ll play either Denmark or North Macedonia at home five days later.

You could imagine that if that materialises, there’ll be more than The Aviva can hold wanting to be there. A return of soccer to Croke Park for the first time in almost two decades, anyone?

It’s a pity the game with the Czechs is not coming up in the next few weeks. Not only is the Ireland team on a high, it seems from all accounts that things are not all too rosy in the other Republic.

The Czechs have sacked their manager, Ivan Hasek, and stripped Tomas Soucek of the captaincy. That’s not a good look.

(While there’s been criticism of the Ireland team for the celebrations which took place on the field after Troy Parrott scored the third of his goals in the Hungary match, the complainers saying they were extravagant, Soucek and his team were lambasted for not acknowledging their supporters after the recent 6-0 defeat of Gibraltar. Worse than that, bonuses weren’t paid, leaving players’ pay packets that bit lighter.)

Northern Ireland have been set a difficult task, set to play away to Italy, who, if they’re only a shadow of the teams that dominated in Europe and on the World Cup stage, will be only too anxious to redeem themselves after failing to top their group.

Like their neighbours, Michael O’Neill’s side would love to be going at it straight away. Their performance in the 4-2 defeat of Denmark a fortnight ago was magnificent, one of the goals straight from Roy of the Rovers.

They won’t lack incentive going out to play Italy – the winners play either Wales or Bosnia for the right to travel across the Atlantic. As can be seen from that, Northern Ireland and Wales can’t be on the trip together.

There’s a lot of football to be played between now and the play-offs, leaving managers hoping their players come through unscathed.