England's 2-0 victory over Austria has given the Republic of Ireland the chance to seal a place in the second round of World Cup play-offs if they beat Slovakia on Tuesday.
Ireland guaranteed themselves a place in the play-offs with a 1-0 victory over Finland on Thursday night.
But they needed results to go their way to have a chance of being one of three best runners-up from the nine qualifying groups to receive byes into the second round.
READ MORE: Vera Pauw without four stars ahead of Ireland's final World Cup qualifier
When Serbia lost to Portugal, and Belgium lost to Norway, it meant that Ireland desired an English victory over Austria on Saturday.
And the European champion produced the goods as lessia Russo and Nikita Parris found the net in Vienna.
It means that Ireland can secure one of top three runners-up spots and go straight into the second round of the playoffs if they win in Bratislava.
The two winners of the round 2 matches with the highest ranking (based on results in the qualifying group stage and the round 2 games) progress to the World Cup finals.
The remaining play-off winner will enter the inter-confederation play-offs from 17 to 23 February in New Zealand, where they will be in a three-team group with two of the following: Chinese Taipei, Thailand, Cameroon, Senegal, Haiti, Panama, Chile, or Papua New Guinea.
It means that Ireland might only have to win one play-off match to progress to a major championship finals for the first time.
But all is contingent on Vera Pauw's side picking up three points against Slovakia on Tuesday.
In the corresponding fixture in November, a Katie McCabe goal cancelled out a Martina Šurnovská opener in a 1-1 at Tallaght Stadium.
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