The Irish prepared for the qualification matches for the 1954 world cup finals, suffering heavy defeats against Spain and Austria and victory over West Germany and Norway. They began their 1954 qualification campaign suffering defeat against France in Dublin, a match played in October 1953. They followed that up with a 4-0 victory over Luxembourg; however a further defeat against France took them out of the running for qualification. Prior qualification for the 1958 world cup finals, they embarked on playing a string of friendly matches, enjoying a 3-1 win against Norway at Oslo in May 1955 and a convincing 4-1 victory over Holland in May 1956, a match played away in Rotterdam. It all started off so well for the Republic of Ireland as they enjoyed a 2-1 win at Dublin against to put them top of the group. Despite winning also in Copenhagen in 1957 against the Danes, they suffered a crushing 5-1 defeat against in England in London which in turn ensured England to win the qualification section and qualify for the 1958 world cup finals.