Tonight, twelve teams battle it out for the six remaining places in the FIFA World Cup which is taking place in South Africa in 2010. One of those places could belong to Ireland which would mean France (who won the competition for their first and only time in 1998) would miss out on qualification for the first time since USA 94′. Ireland on the other hand are hoping to make their fourth finals, their previous best being the Quarter-Finals in Italia ’90 when they lost to hosts Italy.

With a solitary French away goal at Croke Park being the difference going into this evening’s game, all is not lost (despite the fact that, competitively, France are unbeaten at the Stade de France since 1999!). There is however, much to do and very little room for lapses in concentration. If we can score early on, that French goal will effectively be cancelled out by our own away goal. From there on, the pressure will be on France not to concede another while at the same time pressing for a win themselves. If the score tonight is 1-0 to us, then the game will be decided on penalties as both teams have the same number of “away” goals (goals scored at the opposition’s ground over a two-legged tie). If we do score first there is a chance Trappatoni will try to defend and hope for penalties which is entirely possible but makes no room for error. I’d like to see us push for a second in that case and get the second away goal which means France would need to score twice to get through at our expense!

Trappatoni has hinted that he will start with the same eleven that kicked off at Croke Park on Saturday night. This means no room for Hunt and McGeady in the starting line-up, two of our more direct attacking players. A lot will be expected of our defence and midfield who will have to work tirelessly to keep the French out and break up attacks respectively. If Damien Duff and Robbie Keane can link up like they have done in the past there is a chance of goals against an experienced French back line (Abidal will sit this leg out with a thigh injury). I do still feel that the lack of creative spark in midfield is holding us back in the games where we struggle to make an impact, a creative spark such as Stephen Ireland or dare I say it, Andy Reid!

Thierry Henry says he does not expect the Irish team to be out for revenge tonight after Lassana Diarra’s comments to Keith Andrews that the Irish dream was at an end. There were heated exchanges after the final whistle on Saturday night and frankly it can only be a good thing going into tonight’s game. If there’s anything the Irish don’t like, it’s being written off before they’ve had the chance to show what they are made of. Expect a passionate display that surprises the French and hopefully gives us the chance to play in South Africa next summer!

The other qualifiers tonight (first-leg score):
Bosnia-Herzegovina v Portugal (0-1)

Slovenia v Russia (1-2)

Ukraine v Greece (0-0)

Algeria v Egypt

Uruguay v Costa Rica (1-0)

Tonight’s game kicks off at 8pm Irish time and coverage begins on RTE 2 television at 7.20pm as well as being available on RTÉ Radio 1 FM, LW 252, DAB and RTÉ.ie from 7.30pm.

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