France v Ireland...the "second half"

We have had over 2 days now to chew on France's 1-0 victory at Croke Park, and now the hard part is at hand - the return leg in Paris' Stade de France. As we all know, France has also suffered some more injuries - Abidal, Diaby and Toulalan all officially out for the return leg. What is a little disconcerting is that France lose two of their options in the defensive midfield as well as their starting center back from the Dublin match. What is absolutely inexplicable is that Domenech has not called up any replacements - Vieira (maybe too awkward after slighting the former France captain from the get go), Flamini, Cheyrou, Matuidi and Mavuba - all available and most have already experienced wearing the French kit. Clearly Domenech and his staff have known about the potential for forfeit of Diaby and Toulalan well before the first game in Dublin....so why not think about having a plan b, get one of midfield options to Clairefontaine, just in case. As Sport24 stated, what if one of the Diarra's gets hurt? France only have the TFC player - Sissoko - as cover right now at holding midfielder. Funny how many were critical of Domenech taking too many holding players and now he might be short at the position! Add to this the loss of Abidal and it is shocking that no player had been brought in over the weekend to at least get 48 hours of preparation with the squad as cover. Equal surprising since most international managers would see the a player(s) having to sit out the match as a great chance to call up players they might want to take a closer look at...even if it is only for 48 - 72 hours. However, once again Domenech appears to be going the unconventional way and feels as if he has enough to navigate the return match. I really hope he is right.

So moving on to the match. The next fear, which we all knew could be a reality, is that the Stade de France resembles a green cauldron with close to 20,000 Irish descending on Paris. This would not be ideal, but everyone knows that the fans from the UK travel extremely well...look at the Parc des Princes during the Scotland - France Euro qualifier...you would think you were in Glasgow! Just a reminder of what could happen -



The strike was a thunder bolt, but pay attention to all the Scottish flags that were ringing the stadium! Get ready to see the Irish green white and orange flags in place of Scotland's blue and white!

I think this will help the Irish cause more than hurt the French cause, but it something not to be taken lightly, allowing the Irish to have a strong fan base to rely on to stir up the emotions. I am not sure if that will have enough of an impact. Can Ireland win? Of course, they are a solid squad and very well coached...plus they are making this a match for the respect of the Irish people.

I think that Trapattoni and his Irish team will start very much as they did over the weekend in Dublin - cautiously. They will let the French take the game and dictate the pace, always looking to counter and secure set pieces. As they showed in Dublin any set piece is license to drive a high ball into the French 18 yard box, the fact that Given was taking any kick in the Ireland defense 1/3 was an indication that we are going to drive high balls from anywhere on the pitch into the French 18 yard box (clearly having your keeper take "goal kicks" from your defense side means you are not looking for precision but rather high driven balls that will force your defenders to deal with this mortar shots). Trap and the Irish will look to leverage the "bend don't break" defense and see if they cannot steal an early goal on a set piece or a French mistake. If they can go into half time up 1-0, they may look to continue this play and try to get to penalty kicks...where everything is a crap shoot. If they go into the half time even 0-0 then Trapattoni will have the next 45 minutes to seek the precious goal, he might decide to go another 20 minutes with a similar strategy and then start bringing in additional attacking options for the final 25 minutes - hoping that the pressure to hold the lead will be increasingly heavy on the French shoulders. I am not sure Ireland can score 2 goals against Les Bleus, not that Irish do not have the talent, but that Trapattoni's style coupled with Les Bleus' defensive posture should not allow for 2 goals from Ireland.

Ireland's hopes should be bolstered by the fact they had at least 3 clear chances against France in Ireland only to suffer poor finishing. If they can just convert one of those chances in Paris, then it is anyone's game.

As for Domenech and Les Bleus, I think they need to go for the coup de grace early, try to get another goal in the first half, make it close to impossible for Ireland. This will depend much on how Gourcuff plays and if he and Anelka can "coexist" running the offense. There have been some grumblings this week that Anelka was wandering into Gourcuff's central area making it difficult for the Bordeaux man to make himself heard during the match. I do not think this is as much of a problem as is reported. I do think that Les Bleus will need to defend better on set pieces, reduce the sloppy passes and take more chances in front of the Irish goal. If they can do all three, they will succeed.

Prediction - France 1 Ireland 1 - Anelka scores in the 38th minute. Keane equalizes in the 76th minute, making for a nerve wracking final 15 minutes.