Irish striker Kevin Doyle believes a scoreless draw in Croke Park on Saturday against France would be a very good result for the boys in green but as Graham Clifford reports it would leave a huge mountain to climb four days later in Paris.
IF THE Republic of Ireland are to contest next year’s World Cup finals in South Africa then they’ll have to get there the hard way. Defeating the former world champions over two legs will in itself be a massive task but with the second leg in the Stade de France the challenge facing Giovanni Trapattoni’s men is even more difficult.
So what would represent a decent result in the first leg? Well the main aim of the Irish side will be not to concede in Croke Park.
Given our inability to keep clean sheets in the huge majority of games played at the home of GAA over the last 18 months that will in itself be an uphill battle.
If we couldn’t hold the likes of Georgia and Cyprus scoreless at home can we really shut-out the French for 90 minutes?
With attacking threats such as Barcelona’s Thierry Henry, Chelsea’s Nicolas Anelka and Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema all expected to line out for Les Bleus the reality is that Shay Given may be picking the ball out of his net at some stage during Saturday night’s crucial play-off.
Wolves front man Kevin Doyle said last week that if Ireland can keep a clean sheet against Raymond Domenech’s side the chances of progressing to the finals would be high.
He said: “Get a 0-0 draw at home and I think everyone would be very, very happy. I don’t mind whether we are home or away first.
“Everyone prefers to be away but I don’t think so. If you keep a clean sheet it’s a massive bonus going away from home. That would make it very difficult for them.”
While Doyle is right to prioritise the importance of holding the French scoreless on Saturday the prospect of going to Paris without a lead is undesirable in the extremes.
In Ireland’s favour ahead of the weekend is that the French struggled somewhat in front of goals in the group stages.
If you disregard the goals they scored against Brian Kerr’s minnows the Faroe Islands then they found the back of the net on 12 occasions in eight games. Three of these were netted by Bayern Munich’s Franck Ribery who will miss both legs against the Irish.
Given Ireland’s recent competitive away record the best we could realistically hope for is carrying a lead to Paris and then defending it with our lives. That in itself will be a hugely difficult ask. But trying to win in France may simply be impossible — although hope springs eternal.
It’s been a long, long time since an Irish side went away in a competitive fixture and won against the more successful nations in European football.
In 1987 a Mark Lawrenson goal handed us a vital 1-0 win at Hamden Park in the qualifiers for Euro ’88 at a time when the Scots would have been more of a challenge than they are in the current era.
And in 1967 goals from Turlough O’Connor and Ray Treacy secured a 2-1 win over Czechoslovakia in Prague during the qualifying campaign for the 1968 European Championships.
Two wins against, let’s face it, merely semi-decent sides over the last 40 years away from home in competitive football is hardly going to strike fear into Parisian hearts though we should not forget the 1-0 wins over England in Euro ’88 and Italy at USA ’94 — albeit at neutral venues.
So if we’re to base our predictions for the upcoming play-offs on history a home win followed up by an away draw seems to provide the most likely combination for safe passage to the land of the Springbok next summer.
Fail to win in Dublin on Saturday and the task becomes worryingly immense.
The Republic of Ireland squad to face France: Given (Manchester City), Murphy (Bohemians), Murphy (Scunthorpe), O’Shea (Manchester Utd), Dunne (Villa), Kelly (Fulham), Kilbane (Hull), Nolan (Preston), St. Ledger (Middlesbrough), McShane (Hull), O’Dea (Reading), McGeady (Celtic), Duff (Fulham), Gibson (Manchester Utd), Whelan (Stoke), Andrews (Blackburn), Miller (Hibernian), Hunt (Hull), Keogh (Wolves), Lawrence (Stoke), Doyle (Wolves), Keane (Tottenham), Long (Reading), Best (Coventry), Stokes (Hibernian).