Steve Staunton faces his first campaign as Republic manager

"It could have been a lot worse. We always knew it would be tough," said Staunton whose side also face Wales, Slovakia, Cyprus and San Marino.

"Slovakia just missed out on qualifying for the World Cup, and Cyprus have caused us problems recently.

"But, for travelling and everything, it is not a bad draw."

The Republic, under Brian Kerr, beat Cyprus twice in the qualifying series for the World Cup but were relieved to get away with a 1-0 sucess in the away match last October.

"But for keeper Shay Given we could have come away with no points," added Staunton.

"It is a competitive group and I am excited about it.

"I do not see any one team running away with it. The Czech Republic, as number one seeds, will be favourites.

"Germany, like ourselves, have been in transition, but they still qualified for the World Cup.

"Two places are up for grabs, you do not have to qualify though the play-offs and I think everybody is happy with that.

"I am a young manager and I am going straight home to contact Bobby Robson. He has the experience of playing against most of these countries, especially Germany.

"I will be using his expertise. I think we can work well together against these teams."