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Marco Tardelli: Concentration is crucial for Irish team against France

CATHAL DERVAN

Irish Voice Newspaper Columnist

Published Thursday, November 12, 2009, 10:17 AM

Updated Friday, November 13, 2009, 3:40 PM

Read more: Marco Tardelli, France

Republic of Ireland assistant manager Marco Tardelli

Photo by PA Archive/PA Photos

Irish coach Marco Tardelli has warned his World Cup hopefuls that they will need to be on full alert for the two legs of their playoff against France.

The French come to Croke Park on Saturday night and welcome the Irish to Paris the following Wednesday, with a place in the South African finals on offer to the winners.

French coach Raymond Domenech is highly unpopular at home after again leaving Patrick Vieira out of his squad, but Tardelli refuses to read anything into tales of unrest and a breakdown in communications between Domenech and his star players.

“Is it like mutiny on the bounty?” asked Giovanni Trapattoni’s right hand man when he spoke to Star Sunday last weekend.

“I don’t think so. The French team is going to be very, very hard to play against and they will want to play a big game against Ireland.

“If anything I believe they are embarrassed to have arrived second in their qualifying group and to be playing against Ireland now.

“They have great players at the best clubs in England and in Europe. They are in the top clubs and the top leagues, the likes of Henry at Barcelona and Anelka and Malouda at Chelsea.

“They do not want to be in the playoffs and they will look to play a big game against Ireland. We know that.”

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Irish sport is popular and widespread. Levels of participation and spectating are high on the island of Ireland. Throughout the country a wide variety of Irish sports are played, the most popular being Gaelic games (such as Gaelic football, hurling and camogie), soccer, rugby union and boxing. By attendance figures Gaelic football and hurling are by far the most popular sports in Ireland, (34% of total attendances at sports events being to football and 23% to hurling), while golf and soccer (including 5-a-side) are the most played at 17% of the population each. Many Irish sports, such as boxing, cricket, rugby union, Gaelic football and hurling, are organized in an all-island basis, with a single team representing Ireland in international competitions. Other Irish sports, such as Association Football, have separate organizing bodies in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. At the Olympics, a person from Northern Ireland can choose to represent either Ireland or Great Britain. The various GAA discipline finals are easily the largest sporting events regularly held in Ireland, in both terms of attendance and media coverage. The biggest national sporting event in Ireland is the final of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, held annually in Croke Park in September. It usually attracts a sell out crowd of 82,500 to Croke Park. Many of the matches in the championship attract crowds of 50,000, depending on who is playing. Aside from the GAA, the biggest multi-sport event held in Ireland regularly is the Community Games. The games are organized every year from a local level, where hundreds of thousands of young people compete in different disciplines such as athletics, swimming, cycling etc., in the first half of the year. Winners progress to county level, and then to the Community Games finals. One of the biggest international Irish sport events is international Association Football. The Republic's national team has punched above its weight in recent years, qualifying for the 2002 World Cup, and performed well against such teams as Brazil and Portugal. In rugby union, Ireland's national team has been ranked in the top five teams regularly over the last few years, and has produced major stars such as Keith Wood and Brian O'Driscoll. In golf, Ireland is home to several top golfers such as Padraig Harrington.

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