France vs Republic of Ireland
Revenge will be in the air for the Republic of Ireland on Sunday afternoon when they take on France for a place in the quarter finals of Euro2016. A criminally unspotted handball by Thierry Henry denied the Irish a place in the 2010 World Cup and this is the first time the two nations have met since.
France made it into this match by virtue of winning Group A at a canter. They were even afforded the luxury of resting players for two of the matches in that group. Ireland were the last side into the last 16 when a late Robbie Brady winner against Italy sent the whole of Ireland mad.
We’ve not seen what ‘Les Bleus’ are truly made of in this tournament just yet but I am expecting them to crank it up from here on in. Going into the competition I always thought that this would be a four match tournament for the big nations and those four matches begin here. I don’t think sides who believe they can win this tournament care for which half of the draw they are in and France were never not going to escape that group.
At times though France have looked very good in this tournament. We’ve seen glimpses from Paul Pogba and we’ve seen the best of Dimitri Payet. With much more to come from the likes of Antoine Griezmann, Kingsley Coman and Olivier Giroud the French have plenty to be excited about.
Key Man
Paul Pogba went into this tournament as the man everyone was looking at as the one who would light up this event but he was soon overshadowed by his teammate Dimitri Payet. A French ego being what it is that won’t have sat well with the Juventus star and against much inferior opposition this is the sort of match he could really dazzle in.
Full credit must go to the Republic of Ireland for bouncing back from an abject beating by the Belgians to beat Italy and secure their qualification. The one thing nobody can lack the Irish of is heart, determination, character and perseverance and they’ve shown it all in this tournament so far. How far it can take them remains to be seen.
There will be people who are quick to point out that all they did was beat Italy’s second team and that might be true but it still needed beating under the pressure of a must win scenario and I’m not going to deprive them of that although I do think it needs to be said that they will face a much tougher test in this one.
Key Man
Robbie Brady is the man who got Ireland into this knockout stage and he can light it up now he is there. He has had a really good tournament so far. We know all about the quality he has in his left foot but we wasn’t so sure about his heading ability but we certainly learned about it against the Italians with a lovely finish. If Ireland are to repel the French and offer something themselves then Brady is likely to be the one to do it.
Team News
France sat Dimitri Payet and Olivier Giroud on the bench in the last game against Switzerland but both are likely to be recalled to the starting line up as Didier Deschamps goes with something like the side which played Romania in the opening match.
Republic of Ireland have Jon Walters back available after he missed the last two matches with injury. Whether he will go straight back into the side remains to be seen but if he does it is likely to be the only change unless Stephen Ward’s ankle problem has worsened.
Head to Head
Whenever you think of these two and their meetings in the past there is no getting away from that World Cup playoff match. It was a cruel way for Ireland to lose although they were only on course for a penalty shootout so it might not have denied them a spot in the finals but it certainly denied them a shootout.
That was one of five draws in 15 matches between the two teams with France having won six of the other games and the Republic with four wins to their name. You have to go all the way back to 1981 for the last time Ireland beat France when ironically that was the last time France scored more than one goal in a match against the Irish.
Betting
As I have been all through the tournament I’m with the French in this one. Ireland have done ever so well to make it to this stage but the only other time they came up against genuine full strength quality they were given a bit of a lesson by Belgium and I fancy France might produce something similar.
I’m not taking anything away from Ireland. I think they’ve had a great tournament but I’m just highlighting the fact that they are up against it and that is even more the case when you think that France ended their group last Sunday and Ireland only on Wednesday. That’s a massive advantage for the French and one I expect to tell the longer the match goes on.
We’ve seen some edgy performances in the last 16 thus far but I don’t see France playing that way. They can’t. They’re at home and their demanding fans won’t let them play cagey. I think they’ll look to open Ireland up, and succeed enough to win the game and I’m expecting a comfortable win too. With a refund just for France winning on the Asian lines I think we’ve got near enough a free shot at them winning big enough for a full return.
Tips
PUSH – Back France (-1AH) to beat Republic of Ireland for a 4/10 stake at 1.90 with Bet365
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