Since 2011, the home of Welsh football has been the Cardiff City Stadium, where it's near 35,000 capacity insures a proper football atmosphere at the matches, something the players and fans alike have grown very fond of, but speaking to The Balls.ie Football Show, head of sport at Wales Online Paul Abbandonato claimed that the possibility of staging the Ireland match at the Principality (formerly Millenium) Stadium is something that the Welsh FA are considering.
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When asked whether or not the Euro 2016 performance put in by Wales had inspired a nation like Euro 88 and Italia 90 for us, Abbandonato played down the comparison, but suggested that a boost in interest could lead to a return to the Millenium.
"With regards to the Irish effect under Jack Chartlon, no not to that level although there were a reported 200,000 people on the streets in Cardiff to welcome the team home from the finals in France.
This is still a rugby nation, isn't it? When Wales play rugby internationals, a nation is engaged with it and that hasn't really happened with the football in my opinion.
With regards to the Millenium Stadium, I've been thinking, interestingly Wales haven't named the venue for the last game of the campaign, which is against Ireland funnily enough.
There's a feeling that if there is something riding on that, they could sell 200,000 tickets for that match, probably 100,000 of them to Irish fans!"
The prospect of a Wales vs Ireland Group D decider in the Principality Stadium is seriously exciting for Irish fans. We are absolutely sure that there would be incredible interest, and the Irish are right up there with the very best when it comes to making sure we are at big sporting events when our guys are involved, so the atmosphere would be absolutely electric.
It is by no means a certainty, as Abbandonato explained there is a common feeling in Welsh football that when they occupied the gigantic Millenium stadium, it didn't really feel like home.
"There is a school of thought that they didn't feel very well treated in the Millenium Stadium, they felt it was more like an away game for them, or it certainly benefitted the opposition more than it did Wales, and I think there's a feeling of 'look we don't want to go back to a rugby stadium'.
We've got 35,000 screaming taffs in the Cardiff City Stadium, a proper football stadium, and that creates a better atmosphere than 70,000 at the Millenium and that's the view from the players and the management."
From an Irish point of view, the bigger stadium is by far a more attractive option. Cardiff City Stadium could prove to be a tough place to play for such an important game, and more Irish fans in the stadium could only be seen as a positive.
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