WORLD CUP QUALIFIER SECOND-LEG
FRANCE V REPUBLIC OF IRELAND (agg score 1-0)
Venue: STADE DE FRANCE; Date: NOVEMBER 18TH; Kick-off: 7.45
TV Coverage: SKY SPORTS ONE
TEAM NEWS
France will be without Arsenal midfielder Abou Diaby after he was ruled out of the game through injury. Coach Raymond Domenech was already without defender Eric Abidal and midfielder Jeremy Toualan, who also missed the first game.
Republic of Ireland boss Giovanni Trapattoni has no fresh injuries and could field an unchanged line-up in Paris.
Ireland face a tough task in Paris
The stats don’t look for Ireland’s chances tonight – France have lost only one of their 22 matches at the Stade de France and only Argentina have scored more than one goal against the French in 2009.
Furthermore, Les Bleus have not conceded a single goal in their last four matches against Ireland, while the Republic have never won a competitive game on French soil.
Despite those daunting facts, Ireland skipper Robbie Keane has warned the French to expect a ‘twist’ in Paris this evening.
He said: “We want to win every game because we play football to win, and it doesn’t matter what anyone says. I believe there is a twist to come and by no means is the game over. We can turn in around. I believe that.
“Belief is a massive word and by no means are we going into this game settling for penalties. We plan to win and hopefully we’ll do that in the 90 minutes.
“If it has to go to penalties, then so be it - we would take that of course and win.”
Meanwhile, France striker Thierry Henry admitted he is expecting a tough night’s work.
“We know it won’t be easy. We are not expecting just to go out on the pitch and to create loads of goalscoring chances,” said the Barcelona frontman.
“We know Ireland are a very hard team to play against, but it’s up to us to do it on the pitch. The hardest is yet to come, the hardest part is finishing what you have started.
“We have been fighting to qualify for the last two years, now there is one game to go. We won over there but there is one battle left. We know they never give up.”
