Prior to Saturday’s first leg of the UEFA World Cup Qualifying playoffs, the conventional wisdom was that the Republic of Ireland would be successful in the first leg at Croke Park. But leaving Dublin with a one goal deficit, many of the same commentators have written off the chances of Giovanni Trapattoni’s side.
But France has shown a self destructive tendency in qualifying for both the Euro 2008 Tournament and South Africa 2010. Scotland under Alex McLeish were able to steal a victory in Paris using a strong tactical setup which forced France to break down the Scots in the middle of the pitch.
McLeish conceded the flanks to Flourent Malouda and Franck Ribery thus conserving the energy of the Scottish defenders in the middle of the pitch. Ireland, under Trapattoni has much more going forward than Scotland did, and has the type of gritty players that can pull this off. This would also require either fielding more central midfielders, or pinching traditional wide players like Damien Duff to a position towards the middle of the pitch. Leon Best, whose speed and fearlessness has impressed many in the English Championship, could also play a vital role.
Richard Dunne’s role in the center of the back line will be critical as will the role of Goalkeeper Shay Given, one of the world’s best to keep his side organized. Ireland cannot lose its shape at the back. Robbie Keane’s international brilliance, which has shown him to be a more potent big game striker than Thierry Henry or Nicholas Anelka will need to be on full display.
Ireland can still win this tie, despite the fatalism in the world football media. In fact, I expect Ireland to still come out on top.
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Ahh, memories of the Scotland 2008 Euro qualifiers when McLeish made many in the Tartan Army believing in a break in the drought. Nice memory in this week of continuing catastrophies for Ecosse.
As for Ireland, I think they can go to Stade de France and get the points they need. Unfortunately, I’ve heard a report that has Trapattoni stating that he will not play an offensive game. At the same time, he told SkySports, “…but I will not sit on the bench without trying everything.” I hope Ireland can get the necessary 2 away goals they need to qualify, while keeping France to no more than a single goal. With the turmoil with Domenech and Les Bleus (I love the story about the booing of Domenech at the Paris tennis match), I feel a failure to appear in South Africa is the catalyst the French FA will need to dump their troublesome gaffer.
Needless to say, I’ll be watching this match, along with Greece v. Ukraine (good to cure insomnia) and USMNT v. Denmark. Speaking of the Nats, we need to be more resourceful than against a Slovakia side that dropped 2-1 at home against Chile.
Conventional wisdom picked Ireland? Most of the odds makers had France winning 3-1 on aggregate. Also, many in the media, including British and American, said France would win. Even one of the Irish commentators on the RTE radio broadcast of the game was too scared to make a prediction.
Most people, outside some small circles, considered this to be the easiest matchup in the playoffs.
Still, I think France will come out on top. How the game will play out? I have no idea. I want to see what the lineup will be for the French side. I will be interested to see if they go with an “all-out” offensive apporach or more or a defensive style.
Still, no matter what happens, we will see what happens to Domenech. I think that his might be his last time at the helm, no matter what the result.
My experience before the match on Saturday: more people thought France would win, but most of the analysts I was reading or watching were picking Ireland. I remember watching one of the Soccernet videos on Friday, and while that is no authority and it shouldn’t be surprising that the ESPN picks the Irish over the French, those were the last of a number of pundits that I saw picking the Irish.
If the odds makers had France such a favorite, that would seem to be the masses attraction to the French, be it based on their performance or their names.
I think my circle of analysts have shown too reverent of Trapattoni, and I think you see in our writings (and hear in our broadcasts) a reexamination of that, but I don’t think we’re the only ones who picked the Irish.
Ireland will not qualify. After that second half performance a week ago in front of home fans, I cannot fathom how you can possibly reckon they will pull this one out of the fire.
For the record (and you can ask Johnathan) I wasn’t one of those analysts touting Trapattoni and crew to get the job done. Against equal or better opposition the Irish simply cannot finish, and the numerous missed chances from 5 yards out only support last week’s tweet, “white man can’t kick”
Going with the odds makers, I see a draw against France and their qualifying for next year’s World Cup done and dusted with Le Coq Sportif flying high, http://tinyurl.com/ykobm7n.
Are the experts who picked France going to own up to the fact that their analysis that picked a France victory is only avoiding rebuke because of a lucky goal in a match in which the opposition played better? That happens. It’s football, but it surely doesn’t reflect well on the analysts.
Kevin: I didn’t hear your views before hand, so I can’t comment on them.
Dave: I did hear yours, and I think you have done the same retrospective evaluation that I’m doing. “What went wrong” in my analysis.
But if anybody’s saying “I told you so,” I think their comments speak for themselves.
Against equal or better opposition the Irish simply cannot finish, and the numerous missed chances from 5 yards out only support last week’s tweet, “white man can’t kick”
Three goals in two games against Italy a side that only allowed an average .73 goals in the last 3 World Cup Finals is pretty good.
White men cannot kick would be funny if you were talking about Russia or the Czech Republic.
Ireland has consistently fielded black players since Chris Hughton in the 1970s, before Ireland had ever qualified for a World Cup.
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[...] detailed on Tuesday how Trapattoni could set up his team to stalemate the match in Paris. But to Ireland’s credit they didn’t adopt the negative tactics that I suggested and [...]