Former England international Teddy Sheringham believes Ireland would currently be competing at the World Cup in Qatar if Jack Grealish and Declan Rice had opted to remain with the Boys in Green.
Both Grealish and Rice make up part of England's World Cup squad for the tournament, with the former even coming on and grabbing England's final goal in their 6-2 hammering of Iran in their opening group game.
But both have ties linking them back to Ireland and it looked some years ago as though they might have ended up representing the Republic at senior level.
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Rice played three friendlies for Ireland at senior level before switching allegiance to England in 2019.
Four years prior, Grealish played for Ireland at under-21 level before declining a senior call up and declaring for England in what was a huge blow at the time.
And Sheringham believes the impact of those decisions is still being felt - and that Ireland would be a feature at the 2022 World Cup if they still had Grealish and Rice playing for them.
Speaking to Boylesports, he said: "Ireland would without doubt be at the World Cup if Grealish and Rice had chosen them over England.
"They're two world class players and that makes a difference to every team.
"If you took Declan Rice out of West Ham's team, they wouldn't be half the team they are.
"He's made the position his own for England and learnt a lot from Mark Noble about when to pass it, when to get rid of it and when to get out of trouble. He's got everything.
"If Ireland had him and Grealish, who I wanted to start the other night for England, they would make a massive difference for the country."
While the World Cup kicked off on Sunday last with Ecuador defeating host nation Qatar 2-0, Ireland played in a friendly game against Malta.
Stephen Kenny's side claimed a 1-0 win thanks to Callum Robinson's second half goal, but there is no doubting that the 700 travelling fans who made the trip would like to follow their country to a World Cup once again, with Ireland's last appearance at a finals coming in South Korea and Japan 20 years ago.
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