We have a game plan, whether it will work or not will be clear tomorrow. Yeghishe Melikyan

In the second round of the European qualifying phase for the 2026 World Cup, the Armenian national team will host the Irish team at the Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium in Yerevan.

During the pre-match press conference, Yeghishe Melikyan, the head coach of the Armenian national team, answered reporters' questions.

“It is very difficult to recover both physically and mentally after losing 0:5. We want to quickly forget what happened, but it still leaves a mark. We are the Armenian national team, and every defeat, especially a heavy one, affects us. Portugal and Ireland are different teams in terms of both their style and the level of play. Ireland is also a high-class team, but the possibility of achieving victory against them is more realistic. We will face difficulties tomorrow since they are serious opponents, but they are not Portugal.

I don’t want to make comparisons, but I can say that Ireland has its own style of play, which we are already familiar with. We need to prepare and understand who we are dealing with. We have a game plan on how we should act against them, and we presented it to the team today. Whether our plan will work or not will be clear tomorrow,” said Melikyan.

The Armenia-Ireland match in the second round of Group F of the European qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup will take place on September 9 at the Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium at 20:00.