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CATHAL DERVAN

Irish manager Trapattoni says team won’t fear France

Cathal Dervan

Published Thursday, October 29, 2009, 9:21 AM

Updated Thursday, October 29, 2009, 12:33 PM

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Irish manager Giovanni Trapattoni

Giovanni Trapattoni has sounded a World Cup rallying cry to his South African hopefuls after the playoff draw on Monday threw Ireland in against the superpower that is France.

The former World Cup winners will travel to Dublin for the first leg of next month’s playoffs on Saturday, November 14, with the second leg in Paris four days later.

France are red hot favorites in many eyes to put Ireland out of the competition, even though Trapattoni’s team were unbeaten in 10 Group Eight qualifiers.

But Trapattoni, who masterminded two draws with current champions Italy in the qualifying campaign, is upbeat despite the size of the challenge at hand.

“These games are like cup finals, we have come through the qualification group and are one of only five teams in Europe with an unbeaten record. That will give us self-belief going into these games,” said Trapattoni.

“We have done well so far but over the 180 minutes we must give something additional and we will have to be even more concentrated and focused than we have been until now.

“We have come out of a group containing the current world champions, Italy and have got positive results against them in both games.

“Now we face the 2006 World Cup finalists and our results to date will give us the conviction and the belief that we can get a result.”

Trapattoni’s assistant Liam Brady was also positive after the draw despite the fact that Thierry Henry’s side have scored eight goals in their last two games.

Brady claimed, “France were expected to win their group and they’ve got themselves into a situation now where we’re going to make sure that we give them problems. Let’s see if they can handle it.

“France have got an abundance of top players so that makes the tie quite daunting. But it hasn’t been a straightforward qualifying campaign for them, they’ve had their problems. We’ll be dissecting all the games they’ve played.”

Ireland and Middlesbrough defender Sean St. Ledger is adamant his team will use their Italian experience to good effect when they beat the former world champions next month.

St. Ledger scored the 87th minute goal that should have sealed a famous Irish win over Italy last week only to see the Republic concede a late equalizer to Gilardino.

Ireland can afford no such lack of concentration in the knock-out playoffs and St. Ledger admitted, “It’s a tough draw and probably not one we would have chosen.

“They have a team full of stars and some of the world’s best players, but they finished second in their group for a reason. I’m sure there will be a great atmosphere in both legs, but the support we will get at Croke Park will be brilliant and the noise our fans make will be invaluable.

“They should be two unbelievable games to play in. Of course, France are the favorites and I’m sure they will expect to win. But the Italy game gives us a lot of belief that we can do well against a really top side.

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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.

Irish manager Trapattoni says team won’t fear France

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