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Giovanni Trapattoni has named his lineup for the first leg of the playoff against France at Croke Park on Saturday night, but Liam Lawrence and Aiden McGeady are still nervously awaiting their manager's decision as to who will play on the wing.
Trap has set the following snare to catch the French out. Given gloves up between the posts and the back four is a settled one with John O'Shea and Kevin Kilbane in the full back berths and Sean St. Ledger and Richard Dunne forming the partnership in central defense.
In midfield, Damien Duff will occupy one wing, Keith Andrews and Glenn Whelan play in the middle and one of Lawrence/McGeady will hug the other touchline.
The attack is made up of Kevin Doyle and captain Robbie Keane. But what of this last minute conundrum that Trapattoni is facing between Lawrence and McGeady?
Either way, the wily old Italian reckons both will see playing time during the game. The 70-year-has underlined that it now time for his camp to do their talking on the field.
"In the past few days we said many words and things about this game," said Trapattoni. "Now we must move from words to actions and put into practice what we have said.
"I saw the 2006 (World Cup qualification) games between the teams played in Dublin and Pairs. My opinion is that Ireland could have got results in those games to achieve qualification but (Thierry) Henry scored a beautiful goal.
"This match will be for us a new opportunity. The last time against France we had players like Shay (Given), (John) O'Shea, Robbie (Keane) and (Damien) but, for the new players, the young, it's another great opportunity. We can think about our mentality and we must be proud when we achieve this qualification.
"We need same team spirit, same performance and the attitude like the qualifiers - but we have to add something more. Every player must in the 180 minutes add something more to his performance.
"We will avoid nervousness because, in my experience, many players can lose their cool in important games. We need to avoid the little, dangerous situations because we have (the second leg) game in Paris
"We have to keep cool head and continue to play like we've done until now. Only with this mentality can we play with balance against France."
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