Ireland play France in the first leg of the World Cup qualification play-offs this weekend. Saturday’s game will be at Croke Park with the return to come on Wednesday in the Stade de France. I would not normally be one for game previews or reviews, and I don’t intend that this piece should become one, but understandably, there is quite a bit of hype about this game. Ireland have not been in such a position to qualify for a major championship in eight long years. A lot has happened in the meantime.
The Irish are, as a nation, quite a pessimistic lot. Our recent footballing experiences have served only to exacerbate this. Any country that’s been through the Reign of Terror of Steve Staunton is entirely justified in being somewhat pessimistic. The roots of Irish pessimism go much, much deeper than this, of course. There was always a sense that, even when things were going well in football terms, disaster was only just around the corner (and it generally was. Ask Packie Bonner or Terry Phelan). This is can be applied beyond football, too. Ireland is almost revelling in its newfound economic recession. It’s what we do best. So, it’s rather understandable that we go into a game against the recent(ish) World and European Champions – a team with what Jamie Redknapp would refer to as some top, top players – with some serious doubts about ourselves. It’s just what we do.
Why the hell then are the French so scared about playing Ireland? The idea seems almost bizarre. This is the team of Thierry Henry, of Lassana Diarra, of Nicolas Anelka, and Yohan Gourcuff. This is a team of world class players. And yet, be it fans or expert analysts, the consensus seems to be that France are in serious trouble of not progressing.
This is a really puzzling phenomenon, but there it is nonetheless. A recent poll on the Figaro website had the majority of French fans (55%) of the opinion that Ireland would qualify. RTL’s On refait le match, the equivalent of the Football Weekly or The Game podcasts, felt that this draw was tougher than any of the other available options (Slovenia, Bosnia, and Ukraine). Reading l’Equipe and France Football - two respected publications – there seems to be a genuine trepidation, one which is not only being peddled by French journalists, but mirrored in comments left by fans. What gives? Why are the French doing what the Irish do best?
A lot of pessimism seems to derive from a superficial reading of Ireland’s progress under Giovanni Trapattoni. The French have the utmost respect for Trap, a man with an impeccable footballing Curriculum Vitae. However, it seems that they haven’t paid that close attention to Ireland’s progress under the Italian. They know that there has been a huge improvement from the Staunton days, and being familiar with Trap’s reputation as a tactical master, they put two and two together to assume that Ireland’s startling turnaround is directly attributable to some savvy management.
This has not quite been the case, as any Ireland fan will tell you. On the one hand, an average manager could have succeeded Staunton and made Ireland considerably better, such was the decline under his, er, leadership. Secondly, Ireland’s performances have actually gotten worse as the qualification campaign progressed – with the one exception to this being the Italy home game – and Trap’s squad selection has not helped matters. Ireland have, for all their supposed progress, only beaten Cyprus and Georgia, while admittedly remaining unbeaten in their other competitive games. Tactical genius? Not quite – Trapattoni is almost endearingly outdated on this front, insisting upon a ridiculously rigid 4-4-2 formation with wingers and two central midfielders who rarely venture into the opponent’s half of the field.
The French see Trapattoni as the polar opposite of their own manager, Raymond Domenech, the bumbling eccentric who has been known to make his team selections based on the star signs of players concerned (hard luck to you, David Trezeguet). Domenech has frequently come across as clueless, making odd team selections, falling out with senior players (most recently Thierry Henry) and generally achieving underwhelming results, at best. Trapattoni, so the story goes, has the smarts and the experience to make his French counterpart look silly. Domenech, for all his flaws, has a vastly superior squad, who in ordinary circumstances would not think twice about disposing of Ireland’s finest.
So the French are cagey. What will happen? I see it going a rather specific way, actually. Ireland will come out all guns blazing at Croke Park, and give the French a fright. We (Ireland) will probably grab an early lead, have more decent chances, and live to regret not taking these as the game finishes one-nil. We’ll go to France with a specific game plan – hang on for dear life. We’ll make it to about 75 or 80 minutes at nil-nil, within touching distance of qualification, before the floodgates open, and France nab three or four late – and utterly sickening – goals. France at a canter. It’s what we do best.
2 Comments
November 9, 2009 at 11:36 pm
I agree with your assessment that Ireland will score early. I disagree that France will score three or four late goals.
Having thought about it, I think France will leave Dublin with a score draw and the second leg in Paris will be a dour affair where France will frustrate Ireland and Hunt will be sent off.
I’ve no idea where your impression of Irish people being pessimistic comes from, by the way.
November 10, 2009 at 9:33 am
I was only being a little facetious with that prediction, by the way. I think it’ll go something like that. Perhaps not four late goals in Paris, but we’ll hang on for at least an hour with a chance before crumpling.