The European World Cup play-offs were drawn today (October 19) and the Republic of Ireland have drawn 1998 winners France. The Irish will have to beat the French if they are to make it to South Africa and the game should be a cracking occassion.
Of course the French are the favourites with the World Cup 2010 betting odds. They have a wealth of talent including Barcelona ace Thierry Henry, Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka and Bayern Muncih’s highly coveted midfield star Franck Ribery. However, the Irish should not be dismissed as an easy draw for the French and I imagine Les Bleus boss Raymond Domenech would have preffered one of the other lower ranked teams they could have drawn. With the Irish racing into this fixture unbeaten in qualifying, including two draws against current world champions Italy, they are no pushovers and will be determined to spoil the French party.
It was a controversial decision by Fifa to seed the teams who made the play-offs in Europe. I’m sure everyone is well aware of why they did this, the governing body didn’t want the likes of France and Portugal to meet in qualifying which would have meant players such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Thierry Henry would miss out next summer. They’ve given the ‘bigger’ nations every chance to make it to South Africa with this seeding system but I’m confident that under Giovanni Trapattoni the Irish can upset the French – but it will be a massive effort.
Ireland’s stars such as keeper Shay Given, defenders Richard Dunne and John O’Shea, midfielders Stephen Hunt and Kevin Kilbane and strikers Robbie Keane and Kevin Doyle will have to be on the top of their game if they are to beat the French. They also face the task of the second leg in France, which doesn’t make matters any easier, but in ‘Il Trap’ they have a master tactician in charge who has the ability to oversee an upset.
Obviously the French are the favourites and will probably emerge from the two-legged tie victorious but let us not dismiss the Irish threat. Of all the play-offs this is the pick of the ties and a game I will be keeping a very close eye on when it comes around in November.
The four two-legged ties to be played on November 14 and 18 are:
Republic of Ireland v France
Portugal v Bosnia-Herzegovina
Greece v Ukraine
Russia v Slovenia
Ireland, Portugal, Greece and Russia will all play at home first, the winner of each tie will qualify for the World Cup.
The European nations who have already qualified are:
Denmark, Switzerland, Slovakia, Germany, Spain, England, Serbia, Italy and the Netherlands.
