Republic of Ireland vs. France WC Playoff Sat/Wed 14/18 November **K/Os 8 PM/9 PM**

briany

Vs.






*1st leg Live 14th of November from Croke Park on RTE 2/Sky Sports. KO 8:00 PM GMT*

*2nd Leg live 18 of November from Stade de France on
RTE 2 (Yet to be confirmed)/ Sky Sports KO 8:00 PM (French time : GMT+1) *

**Winner of the tie advances to the 2010 FIFA World Cup finals in South Africa.**



Teams (as announced on october 30th) :

Republic of Ireland :


Goalkeepers: Shay Given (Man City),
Brian Murphy (Bohemians)
Joe Murphy (Scunthorpe)



Defenders: John O'Shea (Man Utd),
Richard Dunne (Aston Villa),
Stephen Kelly (Fulham),
Kevin Kilbane (Hull),
Eddie Nolan (Preston),
Sean St Ledger (Preston, on loan at Middlesbrough)
Paul McShane (Hull),
Darren O'Dea (Celtic, on loan at Reading)



Midfielders: Aiden McGeady (Celtic),
Damien Duff (Fulham),
Darron Gibson (Man Utd),
Glenn Whelan (Stoke),
Keith Andrews (Blackburn),
Liam Miller (Hibernian),
Stephen Hunt (Hull),
Andy Keogh (Wolverhampton),
Liam Lawrence (Stoke)


Strikers: Kevin Doyle (Wolverhampton),
Robbie Keane (Tottenham),
Shane Long (Reading),
Leon Best (Coventry),
Anthony Stokes (Hibernian)



***************************************************


France:

Goalkeepers: Carrasso (Bordeaux),
Lloris (Lyon),
Mandanda (Marseille)




Defenders: Abidal (Barcelona),
Cissokho (Lyon),
Escudé (Seville),
Evra (Manchester United),
Fanni (Rennes),
Gallas (Arsenal),
Sagna (Arsenal),
Squillaci (Seville)




Midfielders: Diaby (Arsenal),
Alou Diarra (Bordeaux),
Lassana Diarra (Real Madrid),
Gourcuff (Bordeaux),
Malouda (Chelsea),
Sissoko (Toulouse),
Toulalan (Lyon)




Forwards: Anelka (Chelsea),
Benzema (Real Madrid),
Gignac (Toulouse),
Govou (Lyon),
Henry (Barcelona),
Rémy (Nice)

GLaDOS

briany wrote: »

[
Goalkeepers: Shay Given (Man City),
Kieren Westwood (Coventry), Brian Murphy (Bohemians) :cool:
Joe Murphy (Scunthorpe)

FYP

Bobalicious93

Isn't Brian Murphy in the squad?

EDIT: Too slow.

Het-Field

Looking at the teams on paper, one must wonder how we managed to get here !

We have been deprived of Steve Finnan, Lee Carsley, Andy Reid, Stephan Reid, Keith Fahey, Stephan Ireland, Clinton Morrison, Paddy Kenny, and one or two others. Equally, its a shame that the likes of Stephan Carr are playing quite well in the Premiership, yet dont feel the compulsion to play for Ireland.

The squad is made up of some very poor players, some of which are affiliated to very poor clubs. The likes of Shane Long are not even getting into the starting eleven of lowely paced Championship teams.

They are bolstered by lads like Robbie Keane, Damien Duff, Shay Given, Richard Dunne, and to a lesser extent John O Shea. Without them Ireland would never get anywhere. I really hope that we are not exposed if France get into their rythem.

GLaDOS

Het-Field wrote: »

They are bolstered by lads like Robbie Keane, Damien Duff, Shay Given, Richard Dunne, and to a lesser extent John O Shea.

John O Shea has been infintely more important that Duff this campaign

Xavi6

0-2

0-1 at the half, no plan B, 0-2 in the end

briany

Fixed. What happened to Kieron Westwood?

LuckyLloyd

To progress we will require the following as a basic starting point:

- Given to be magnificent;
- Dunne and O'Shea to produce their best form;
- Keane to be at his most creative and clinical;
- France to be below par, make mistakes, miss chances;

3hn2givr7mx1sc

France have a player called Fanni? I look forward to Éamonn Dunphy saying his name without giggling.:D

vestanpance

Do Sky definitely have the away leg, last I heard no one has ponied up the money for the rights to show it.

Xavi6

Cain Jealous Stampede wrote: »

France have a player called Fanni?

Yeah apparently Everton have been sniffing around him lately. Something fishy about it though.

briany

It would be great if Ireland went through, I really think it would be the Hollywood ending to the campaign. I mean, let's face it, FIFA don't want Ireland to go through, nor does UEFA and many neutral fans of the game don't want the team to get through based on the style of football Ireland plays.

I hope all the unseeded teams stick the Vs right in FIFA's face.

Aidric

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

- Keane to be at his most creative and clinical;

I would never class Keane as creative in an Irish shirt, clinical on occasion as his goalscoring record bears out. For me he has more average games than good ones for Ireland.

Daysha

1-0 to the French in both legs unfortunately.

Het-Field

briany wrote: »

It would be great if Ireland went through, I really think it would be the Hollywood ending to the campaign. I mean, let's face it, FIFA don't want Ireland to go through, nor does UEFA and many neutral fans of the game don't want the team to get through based on the style of football Ireland plays.

I hope all the unseeded teams stick the Vs right in FIFA's face.

As I mentioned, we have done it before. In 2001 they even took it to the pitch to see us eliminated. Remember, the fairly innocuous Gary Kelly red card ? The first chance the ref got, he took it. We told them where to go in the end !!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePNST9aczFI

briany

vestanpance wrote: »

Do Sky definitely have the away leg, last I heard no one has ponied up the money for the rights to show it.

Well if RTE didn't pick up, I'll be truly shocked if SKY don't snap up the exclusive rights. God help us if TV3 or ESPN get it.

ArmaniJeanss

vestanpance wrote: »

Do Sky definitely have the away leg, last I heard no one has ponied up the money for the rights to show it.

Nothing on their website about the away leg yet, I reckon there'll be a standoff about the price til about 48 hours before the game, then common sense will prevail.
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12942,00.html

And even if Sky were willing to meet the €1.5M asking price, as I understand it they aren't allowed be the sole broadcaster as this game is 'on the government list'.

So its either Sky+RTE, Sky+TV3, it can't be Sky on its own.

(All of the above could be wrong).

vestanpance

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

Nothing on their website about the away leg yet, I reckon there'll be a standoff about the price til about 48 hours before the game, then common sense will prevail.
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12942,00.html

And even if Sky were willing to meet the €1.5M asking price, as I understand it they aren't allowed be the sole broadcaster as this game is 'on the government list'.

So its either Sky+RTE, Sky+TV3, it can't be Sky on its own.

(All of the above could be wrong).

There was someone from TV3 on Newstalk yesterday and he said something along the lines of Sky not being able to be the sole broadcaster although he did say that the figure they were looking for is £6.5m. I've read that it was £3-4m million that they were after though.

briany

Well here's hoping that RTE swing because win lose or draw, it just isn't the same without George Hamilton/Jim Beglin calling the match and of course we need the boys on the panel to give their two cents as well.

The_Kew_Tour

Going to Paris so really looking forward to the two games.

Think it will be much tighter then people expect but if I had put life on line think frnech will come out on top im afraid.:(

briany

adrian280582 wrote: »

Going to Paris so really looking forward to the two games.

Think it will be much tighter then people expect but if I had put life on line think frnech will come out on top im afraid.:(

How did you get your tickets? I've heard that Irish fans who couldn't get a ticket from the FAI's allocation have been heading over to France to buy the tickets in person because you cannot get them online.

briany

According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_FIFA_World_Cup_qualification_-_UEFA_Second_Round,
the referees for the respective games will be Felix Brych and Martin Hansson. Anyone know anything about these two?? Besides the little articles there are about them of course.

ArmaniJeanss

briany wrote: »

According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_FIFA_World_Cup_qualification_-_UEFA_Second_Round,
the referees for the respective games will be Felix Brych and Martin Hansson. Anyone know anything about these two?? Besides the little articles there are about them of course.

First guy was very controversial during the Milan v Real game at the San Siro this week.

briany

I would have preferred a ref who's not from a country right next door to France, maybe Greece or somewhere like that. At least the second ref is from Sweden and I'm told they are a neutral enough people.;)

ArmaniJeanss

briany wrote: »

I would have preferred a ref who's not from a country right next door to France, maybe Greece or somewhere like that. At least the second ref is from Sweden and I'm told they are a neutral enough people.;)

I don't think theres any love lost between France and Germany, and with Ribery being an absentee there aren't any France players based in Germany so there shouldn't really be any cause for concern on that score.

As for Sweden - hopefully the ref carries a bizarre and previously wellhidden grudge against all things French because Platini defeated Lennart Johansson for the UEFA presidency back in 2007.

CHD

5-0 to Ireland

The_Kew_Tour

briany wrote: »

How did you get your tickets? I've heard that Irish fans who couldn't get a ticket from the FAI's allocation have been heading over to France to buy the tickets in person because you cannot get them online.

my mate sisiter is big friend of guy who has good links with football club in this country.

So we were able get 5 tickets of him there 5 of us going over so have say im lucky that im mates with him lol

I do think though FAI are giving out tickets alright sure dont we have 8,000 for the away section I prsume the FAI would be selling them?

briany

Oh of course the FAI are selling their allocation but it's not enough to meet demand so there are fans going to France to buy the tickets in person because the French FA won't make them available on the net or on the phone.

Redzer7

Diaby out of playoff, Can't wait for this, Richard Dunne to score a hatrick including a 45 yard volley "You'll never beat the Irish".

The_Kew_Tour

briany wrote: »

Oh of course the FAI are selling their allocation but it's not enough to meet demand so there are fans going to France to buy the tickets in person because the French FA won't make them available on the net or on the phone.

Ya they reckon there will be 25,000 irish at this of course the first leg will tell lot too as to how many will head over some people who have not made up there minds wont go if we are 2-0 down from first leg

Ferris_Bueller

Think we are going to get a 1-1 in Croker after taking the lead, then with it all to play for in France anything could happen. Heart says 2-2 out in France, head says 2-0 France:(

briany

Back of the Sunday World it has a pic of Domenech posing with Goofy in Euro Disney at the turning on of the christmas lights. Headline says "Taking the Mickey". I though maybe he'd called Ireland a Mickey Mouse team at least that's what was insinuated upon first glance. This has got to be the first time Roy Curtis has ever exaggerated anything.......

noodler

briany wrote: »

Back of the Sunday World it has a pic of Domenech posing with Goofy in Euro Disney at the turning on of the christmas lights. Headline says "Taking the Mickey". I though maybe he'd called Ireland a Mickey Mouse team at least that's what was insinuated upon first glance. This has got to be the first time Roy Curtis has ever exaggerated anything.......

I read him every week but he really does take sensationalism to a whole new level.

Aidric

briany wrote: »

Back of the Sunday World it has a pic of Domenech posing with Goofy in Euro Disney at the turning on of the christmas lights. Headline says "Taking the Mickey". I though maybe he'd called Ireland a Mickey Mouse team at least that's what was insinuated upon first glance. This has got to be the first time Roy Curtis has ever exaggerated anything.......

Pretty ironic given Curtis's pieces read like a childrens book.

3 Dollar Bill

1st leg: 0-0
2nd leg: 1-1

Ireland go through on the away goal rule

If we manage to stop the French from scoring in Croker we have every chance of going through.

The french may have great individual players but they never seem to gel as a team.

yermandan

Evra and Anelka to have an unfortunate collison at Stamford Bridge today, ruling both out, Ireland to win 12-0 on aggregate

briany

Yes I cannot help but look at Curtis's columns every week myself even though it really is car crash reading. All his little name dropping analogies that he probably thinks are quite clever. There seems to be two pics of him on those pages I've noticed; there's "smiling" Roy Curtis for the premiership column, sometimes rugby and "frowning" Roy Curtis for anything to do with the Irish team. I remember before a game with the Faroes, he devoted something like a page and a half to just damning the Faroese team, referring to their land as "Shards of shivering rock" as I recall

Anyway back to the topic of the first leg. It is absolutely imperative that Ireland does not concede a goal at home. If the team can do that, then the ball is in their court.

The Volt

3 Dollar Bill wrote: »

1st leg: 0-0
2nd leg: 1-1

Ireland go through on the away goal rule

If we manage to stop the French from scoring in Croker we have every chance of going through.

The french may have great individual players but they never seem to gel as a team.

I was listening to Mark Lawrenson on Today FM yesterday too


Hard one to call but I reckon we'll be beaten in France, drawing 1-1 in Croker. I do worry about the UEFA bias and if they've any sense in the camp they'll say this before the game alá Moyes with Mike Riley before the cup semi final last year.

briany

EDIT:Oh no I read that wrong, Mark Lawrenson actually DID have something positive to say, joy of joys.

noodler

briany wrote: »

Yes I cannot help but look at Curtis's columns every week myself even though it really is car crash reading. All his little name dropping analogies that he probably thinks are quite clever. There seems to be two pics of him on those pages I've noticed; there's "smiling" Roy Curtis for the premiership column, sometimes rugby and "frowning" Roy Curtis for anything to do with the Irish team. I remember before a game with the Faroes, he devoted something like a page and a half to just damning the Faroese team, referring to their land as "Shards of shivering rock" as I recall

Anyway back to the topic of the first leg. It is absolutely imperative that Ireland does not concede a goal at home. If the team can do that, then the ball is in their court.

In the Sunday World this week he has, and I quote:

"10 STEPS TO DISASTER - How Trap's reign has brought the dark ages to Irish soccer"

1 - The Andy Reid Scandal = Fair enough

2 - Football as torture = not pretty to watch its true but I would argue its not the fact that they are boring us but that we could be winningmore comfortably.

3 - The Stephen Ireland Affair = How he attributes any blame to Trap here is beyond me.

4 - The Armband Outrage = Not having Dunne as captain essentially. Would prefer Dunne as captain to take the pressure of Keane personally but Keane's goals this campaign have been more vital than ever

5 - Defending = Essentially that we can't hold a lead or get the killer second

6 - The Armchair = Doesn't go to enough matches

Here is where it gets interesting:

7 - Glen Whelan
8 - Darron Gibson
9 - Keith Andrews No elaboration by him here. Very harsh on the players in question. Most see Andy Reid as a winger, Stephen is injured and Ireland won't play so the options were limited for me.

10 Steven Reid = His remarks about Reid's injury being career-threatening. Fair enough, Trap did seem to get his wires crossed there.

Now I have some criticisms of Trap but find the above to be very childish in the main.

The_B_Man

Duff played the full 90 minutes for fulham over the weekend apparently. Thats good news.

noodler

I'm so fecking nervous already.

briany

noodler wrote: »

In the Sunday World this week he has, and I quote:

"10 STEPS TO DISASTER - How Trap's reign has brought the dark ages to Irish soccer"

1 - The Andy Reid Scandal = Fair enough

2 - Football as torture = not pretty to watch its true but I would argue its not the fact that they are boring us but that we could be winningmore comfortably.

3 - The Stephen Ireland Affair = How he attributes any blame to Trap here is beyond me.

4 - The Armband Outrage = Not having Dunne as captain essentially. Would prefer Dunne as captain to take the pressure of Keane personally but Keane's goals this campaign have been more vital than ever

5 - Defending = Essentially that we can't hold a lead or get the killer second

6 - The Armchair = Doesn't go to enough matches

Here is where it gets interesting:

7 - Glen Whelan
8 - Darron Gibson
9 - Keith Andrews No elaboration by him here. Very harsh on the players in question. Most see Andy Reid as a winger, Stephen is injured and Ireland won't play so the options were limited for me.

10 Steven Reid = His remarks about Reid's injury being career-threatening. Fair enough, Trap did seem to get his wires crossed there.

Now I have some criticisms of Trap but find the above to be very childish in the main.

Aside from the Steven Ireland debacle, I would actually find the points he made in that article in fairness, and it's pretty rare that I would agree with what Roy Curtis says about the Irish setup, but he really does go about his criticisms in a way that is just so so over the top. I haven't been reading him that long, maybe three years or so but I suspect he is a parody of what he once was.

Also a good article in either Ireland on Sunday or the Sunday World about Liam Lawrence and his adopted Irishness and his looking forward to the France game. He was Impressive in the games I've seen him in for Ireland, I mean he's very gung ho, a bit like Stephen Hunt but with a bit more finesse in my opinion. Will it be Duff/Lawrence or Duff/Mcgeady to start with Hunt as a possible impact sub I wonder?? Did anyone read the Evening Herald's report of what the Italian media were saying in the wake of the Croke park draw? They said Ireland were a team with a "Fantastic midfield.":eek: And said Ireland had a "Precious Jewel" in the form of McGeady. Always nice to get the view from the other side I suppose.

The_B_Man

i think really only 2 of them are Traps "fault".

Is the article a dig at Trap, or irish international football as whole?

Considering he says "How Trap's reign has brought the dark ages to Irish soccer", i reckon its aimed at Trap.

1. Trap definately has the final word on this.
2. Thats Traps style but its working!
3. Nothing to do with him.
4. Irrelevant
5. Arguable whether or not thats Trap, or our own players limits. This isnt the 1st campaign we've done this.
6. Trap has no control over this.
7. We should've adopted Kaka when he was a kid maybe?
8. Same as above. Limitations of us producing world class players.
9. As above
10. Meh, I think the original comment was about his on-going issues, and not just the current one. any player not playing for an extended period of time always has to worry about his career, ie its career threatening.


so, "How Trap's reign has brought the dark ages to Irish soccer" is definately lazy journalism, especially since we're on the verge of possibly qualifying for the world cup against all odds! Wheres these "dark ages" he speaks of?

givyjoe81

briany wrote: »

Yes I cannot help but look at Curtis's columns every week myself even though it really is car crash reading. All his little name dropping analogies that he probably thinks are quite clever. There seems to be two pics of him on those pages I've noticed; there's "smiling" Roy Curtis for the premiership column, sometimes rugby and "frowning" Roy Curtis for anything to do with the Irish team. I remember before a game with the Faroes, he devoted something like a page and a half to just damning the Faroese team, referring to their land as "Shards of shivering rock" as I recall

Anyway back to the topic of the first leg. It is absolutely imperative that Ireland does not concede a goal at home. If the team can do that, then the ball is in their court.

I disagree with this notion that if we dont concede we'll ge 'grand', not that you said it, just a general feeling i hear from people. That simply isnt the case, we could get a scoreless draw or even win one nil and still easily get absolutely tonked in Paris. An early goal for the French and I think we will crumble over there. Cant help but fear a situation like Scotland, Netherlands a couple of years ago. Remember the scots won the first leg 1-0 and lost the second by six or seven, we're not that bad but its in the realms of possibility (to get badly beaten that is), McShane could still a part!

pierrot

Cain Jealous Stampede wrote: »

France have a player called Fanni? I look forward to Éamonn Dunphy saying his name without giggling.:D

According to a certain podcast, iirc, Celtic were interested a couple of years back, wanted to pair him at the back with Balde, thus forming a Brazialian style center back partnership...

IRISHSPORTSGUY

The thing I find strangest about Roy Curtis is that he insults Eamon Dunphy and then proceeds to echo everything he says, almost word for word!

Dunno if I'll be ploughing a lone furrow here - I'd like to see Keith Andrews dropped. Darron Gibson has been woeful in most of his appearances that I've seen, and really fails to impose himself on the game, but surely he must have something about him if Fergie and the Utd coaching staff rate him? Maybe I keep seeing him on a bad day. Scotland is a 2nd rate league nowadays, still encouraging to see Liam Miller win Player of the Month though.

What does Andrews bring to the table exactly, he isn't a natural defensive midfielder at all - the oppo pass the ball straight through us in every game. The only positive attribute I've noticed is that he has a good shot in his locker. Glenn Whelan ain't great either but a damn sight better than everyone else that Trap selects, sadly.

Joeyjoejoe43

Ireland win 2-1 on Saturday..

1-1 in France, very late goal by Keane getting us through, with France nearly getting in for a last gasp winner to bring it to extra time, but we just hold on thanks to Given or Crossbar..

Mr_Roger_Bongos

Joeyjoejoe43 wrote: »

Ireland win 2-1 on Saturday..

1-1 in France, very late goal by Keane getting us through, with France nearly getting in for a last gasp winner to bring it to extra time, but we just hold on thanks to Given or Crossbar..

Magic!

Limerick Dude

Mr_Roger_Bongos wrote: »

Magic!

More like probable heart attack but if it gets us to South Africa then I'll take my chances

gosplan

This is going to be horrible nail-biting torture.

It's only Monday and I'm bricking it. The thoughts of us defending a slender lead or nil-all while inviting the French on to us in the last ten minutes just doesn't bear consideration. I will not be able to deal with it.

The only way I can see myself getting through this game without ageing by about 20 years is to start drinking very early in the day.