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World Cup Play-Offs. Friendly matches.
By Barry McEneaney
10.02pm Pundit-watch. Dunphy comes to the boil and reiterates his views on the Ireland manager’s tactics. It’s hard to argue with his assertion that such non-expansive play is destined to aim in failure in the long-run. Wonder what Andy Reid and Stephen Ireland were doing tonight?
9.55pm It’s hard to see an upside to the result. Chasing a game will never be our forte under Trap, and Les Bleus head home very much in the driving seat.
9.53pm Some tasty afters with Andrews and Diarra both well up for a ruck, but it comes to nothing.
90 mins Game over.
89 mins Malouda on for Gignac as Doyle is named the eircom Man of the Match.
85 mins Ireland go painfully close to scoring an equaliser. France lose possession deep in their own half and the ball reaches Keane in the box who lays off for the advancing Best, but the French keeper is alive to the danger and sprints off his line and blocks Best’s shot as he pulls the trigger.
83 mins Irish players look dead on their feet. Henry breaks, but attack peters out.
80 mins Stephen Hunt on for Lawrence.
79 mins A horrendous back-pass from Kilbane should have resulted in a second French goal, but Given dives to the feet of Anelka and the ball spills to Gignac whose shot into an open goal inexplicably ends up at the right sideline.
78 mins Gignac shot is deflected, but this time it doesn’t end up in the back of the net. Henry corner fails to trouble Irish defence.
76 mins 74,103 is the official attendance.
75 mins McGeady on for an exhausted Duff.
74 mins Crowd muster up all the encouragement they can to rally Trap’s charges. Diarra on the floor again. Who’d have guessed he’s such a delicate flower.
74 mins Crowd muster up all the encouragement they can to rally Trap’s charges. Diarra on the floor again. Who’d have guessed he’s such a delicate flower.
72 mins Goal! 0-1 Anelka shot from the edge of the area deflects off St Ledger and the right-hand post to end up in the net. Desperately unlucky.
70 mins Best on for Doyle.
69 mins Ireland counter down the right but lose possession.
68 mins Danger here! Evra surges into the box and Given rushes out to intercept as the Red Devils bears down on goal. Evra tumble over the keeper and shouts for a penalty fall on deaf ears.
66 mins Duff cross from the right is met by Doyle, but his glancing header goes over the bar.
63 mins Ireland counter quickly and break down the right, but the France keeper collects the cross into the box.
61 mins Henry and Anelka combine at the edge of the area and chip the ball into the path of Gignac. His looping goalward header is tipped over by the superb Given.
58 mins France corner from the right sees Henry play the ball to the edge of the area. Captain Keane clears. Our boys have put in a hard shift tonight. Hopefully there energy levels don’t drop off too much in the closing stages of the contest.
57 mins Anelka has just played one of the worst attempted passes you’re ever likely to see. The mercurial striker doesn’t look up for it tonight.
54 mins Diarra lashes a volley across the goal from 30 yards out on the left, but the ball bends wide.
52 mins Gourcuff shot is anaemic in the extreme. Get that boy some iron.
50 mins Duff trickery on the right earns Ireland a corner. Duff delivers and the ensuing scramble sees a header from Dunne, a shot from O’Shea and an overhead kick from Keane, but the ball eventually goes out of play. You’ll be glad to know Diarra is soldiering on.
48 mins Diarra pulls up with an ‘injury’ as the ball is put out of play.
47 mins Keane breaks, but is stopped in his tracks as an offside decision goes against him. It was tight.
46 mins The game restarts. No changes in terms of line-up. The French jersey seem to be held together by black masking tape. Times must be tough at the French Football Federation. France have made a good start to the half with Sagna getting a good cross into the area which just evades the marauding French attack.
45 mins No stoppage time, as the ref blows up on the stroke of half-time. It’s been one of the best Republic of Ireland performances under Trap, with confidence flourishing with each passing minute.
42 mins Pundit-watch. Jim Beglin believes Henry is using Dunne to climb. ‘The Wardrobe’ becomes ‘The Ladder’, perhaps.
40 mins Lawrence corner from the right soars over the head of both sets of players.
37 mins Andrews unnecessarily loses possession on the edge off his box and Henry latches on to the stray ball before just volleying wide. Concentration mustn’t drop.
35 mins Ireland’s industrious play hasn’t been awarded on the scoreboard, but it’s demoralising a country who know a thing or two about surrendering.
32 mins Ireland win a free in their own held when Sagna cynically fells Duff. Free comes to nothing. Gignac then takes down Dunne. The French are becoming increasingly frustrated.
29 mins Andrews attempt to bend the ball in to the bottom right corner from the left, but the shot goes just wide. Outstanding pressure from the Irish.
26 mins Lawrence misses a proverbial sitter. Anelka was caught offside and Given came up near the halfway line to take the resulting free. A header dropped to Keane who surged forward in the box and the ball made its way to Lawrence who came storming in from the right. His shot went to the right of the post. Turns out the ball was deflected wide, but no corner was given.
24 mins Given stops a weak French shot.
23 mins Andrews lucky to escape a yellow card after body-checking Anelka. The free from the right 30 yards out is a good one, but nobody gets on the end of Henry’s dead ball.
21mins France break up the right and Sagna goes down after a tackle from Duff. Get up!
19 mins Andrews goes down under a challenge from Abidal and play is halted. But not for long.
17 mins Mix-up between Kilbane and St Ledger almost lets Gginac in deep in the box, but the ball is cleared for a corner from the right which fails to trouble Given.
16 mins Duff’s weak shot from outside the area is deflected wide by Doyle.
14 mins Liam Lawrence creates space and gets a cross in from the left but there is nobody to meet his lofted ball and the keeper collects.
12 mins Ireland counter. Doyle picks up the ball on the left and his deflected cross is saved by Lloris at his near post.
10 mins Gignac puts the ball in the back of the net after lobbing Given, but the goal has been ruled out for offside, and rightly so. Dunne should have taken responsibility for clearing the threat, though.
8 mins Anelka shot/cross from the left cleared by St Ledger.
7 mins Kilbane breaks down the left but it amounts to nothing.
6 mins Tenacious tackling form Republic midfield is breaking up French play.
4 mins Dunne concedes corner. Kilbane climbs highest to meet a France corner and Given gathers. Danger averted.
3 mins Duff has made a bright start and his link play on the left almost saw him freed in a dangerous position, but the French regain possession.
2mins A passage of French passing amounts to nothing with Henry’s control letting him down and handing possession to the Irish.
1 min A taste of what’s to come, hopefully. Duff knocks the ball out of play with a biting tackle.
8.00pm Game on!
7.59pm Ireland playing into the Hill for the first half.
7.59pm The Irish anthem follows and is greeted with a terrific Croke Park roar at its conclusion.
7.57pm Stirring rendition of Les Marseillaise from the Garda band. What an anthem.
7.53pm Players are on the pitch, lined up and being presented to the dignitaries.
7.46pm Pundit-watch. Highlights reel of Henry’s best bits over the years. May not be the player he once was, but the line about form being temporary and class being permanent applies to him more than most. When the Barca star ended our Euro 2004 prospects at Lansdowne Road, it was with one moment of sublime genius after an otherwise unexceptional display.
7.41pm The importance of tonight’s clash in the context of the play-off can’t be overstated. A victory or even a draw would put all the pressure on France in the second leg. The French stars are all too aware of the outrageously fickle nature of their fanbase.
7.38pm France supremo Raymond Domenech bears a striking resemblance to Thunderbirds puppet Parker. He chauffeured Lady Penelope in the classic show.
7.31pm Pundit-watch. Greame Souness has arrived in the Croke Park studio after being delayed at the airport. He’s sporting a particularly gnarly beard and looks as if he’s just stumbled off that trawler featured in Deadliest Catch.
7.28pm Liam Lawrence was handed the task of shoring up the right flank in their World Cup play-off with France. The Stoke midfielder, whose only other competitive start came in last month's 2-2 Group Eight qualifying draw with champions Italy, got the nod ahead of Aiden McGeady. Manager Giovanni Trapattoni named 10 of the players who started against the Italians, with Damien Duff's return from injury in place of McGeady the only change. French counterpart Raymond Domenech, as expected, named a potentially lethal front three of skipper Thierry Henry, Andre-Pierre Gignac and Nicolas Anelka.
7.24pm Pundit-watch. ‘It doesn’t look like they’re fighting like tinkers.’ Unintended comedy gold from Bill as he responds to comments on disharmony in the camp from John Giles.
7.22pm RTÉ reverting to using a montage of great Irish performances against the French. Thought montages went out of fashion in the late 1980s.
7.20pm Pundit-watch. Dunphy critical of recent analysis on the big match from Brian Kerr and football philosopher Damien Richardson. He’s warming up nicely.
7.15pm ‘Put ‘em under pressure.’ Big Jack’s mantra - which was turned into a ghastly song - may not be an original tactic, but Ireland’s prospects this evening may depend on just how uncomfortable we can make Les Bleus feel over 90 minutes. This French side my be trading on individual reputations and former glories, but when it comes to guile, there can only be one winner. Let’s be grateful Benzeam and Ribery won’t start this evening.
7.10pm Pundit-watch. Eamon Dunphy is looking uncharacteristically cool, calm and collected at this stage of proceedings. But the night is young. Ever one for the big occasion, he could explode at any time. It’s simply too early to tell how the match - and Eamon - will unravel.
7.00pm Weather: It’s a crisp, bracing or bitterly cold evening in Dublin, depending on your generation and how hard you are. Most dads would describe it as ‘mild enough’. Clear skies overhead, so we should be spared rain at Croke Park this evening. No moon, though. I love a good moon. So too does former Republic of Ireland star Frank Stapleton. Stapleton was the source of one of my favourite moon quotes. While commentating on a particularly turgid affair at Highbury, the Arsenal legend broke off his analysis and gazed up at the skies and with the innocence and inane observation of a child said: ‘That’s a verry big moon.’ How we could do with his finishing skills this evening.
6.45pm We're hearing that Lawrence will start, confirmation to follow.
6.30pm: At this stage, we are all very nervous so the distraction of news of some latest scores around the world will help. Links to World Cup play-off and friendly games are above.
6.26pm Match betting is available here, with 90 minutes left until kick-off. RTÉ Two and RTÉ.ie coverage is beginning at 7pm. We're expecting news on whether Liam Lawrence or Aiden McGeady get the nod on the right side of midfield around the same time.
6.14pm The final teams for tonight's clash are yet to be announced; however, we can tell you the Rep of Ireland team will be as follows:
Republic of Ireland team to play France at Croke Park in the World Cup play-off first leg: Shay Given; John O'Shea, Richard Dunne, Sean St Ledger, Kevin Kilbane; Aiden McGeady/Liam Lawrence, Keith Andrews, Glenn Whelan, Damien Duff; Robbie Keane, Kevin Doyle.
6.04pm Hello folks and welcome to our live matchtracker for tonight's succulent encounter at Croker. I'd imagine you are all as nervous and excited as we are!
As well as our matchtracker, you can also follow all the TV and radio action online. Click here for those options.
Rep of Ireland v France
Rep of Ireland: Given, O'Shea, St. Ledger, Dunne, Kilbane,
Lawrence, Whelan, Andrews, Duff, Doyle, Keane.
Subs: Joe Murphy, McGeady, McShane, Kelly, Gibson, Hunt, Best.
France: Lloris, Sagna, Gallas, Abidal, Evra, Lassana Diarra,
Alou Diarra, Gourcuff, Anelka, Gignac, Henry.
Subs: Mandanda, Escude, Govou, Benzema, Sissoko, Malouda, Squillaci.
Referee: Felix Brych (Germany)
