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What can I say? The Irish hosted a “manager-less”side at home and still failed to deliver! I mean, how could the team than managed to score TWO past Buffon fail to find the net altogether facing Lloris, who had just welcomed 5 into his net in the thriller vs Marseille the weekend before?
 
Now it’s France’ ticket to lose, and if Trapattoni wants to get back in it he needs to adopt a more offensive scheme in Paris, which could backfire considering Anelka looks like he is using some kind of a “crystal ball” to anticipate where the ball is going and be there on time.
 
Back in the road to Germany 1974 was the last time Ireland won over France on aggregate (2-1 at home and 1-1 away). On the road to Argentina 1978 France won 2-0 at home and lost 0-1 away.
 
On the road to Spain 1982 the French lost 2-3 in Ireland, but managed a 2-0 home win, then on the road to Germany 2006 they drew goalless in Paris only to go to Ireland and win 1-0. Last Saturday’s result was a repeat of that scoreline, and it could very well be a goalless draw in Paris on Wednesday, given the two side are of limited offense potential (and I still can’t understand how on Earth can France be that numb upfront).
 
Well, maybe I’m wrong. France have never failed to find the net in any of their games in the current campaign, either. They lived up to their potential and scored another away goal (they scored exactly once in each of their travels, with the exception of the game in Bucharest where they managed a 2-2 draw).
 
If that is the case, then I don’t know whether France will score once at home (like they did vs Romania and Lithuania), twice (like they did vs Serbia), or thrice (like they did vs Austria). I’m of course discounting the 5-0 home win vs the Faroe Islands.
 
Much to contradict my statement (of the two being of weak offenses), Ireland only failed to find the net on both games vs Montenegro in the group, meaning they scored at least once in each of their other 8 games, so maybe there’s a chance still for them to do it again, but unless they can keep a clean sheet (something they also only managed to do in both games vs Montenegro, plus their home game vs Cyprus), they are probably doomed already.
 
Quite confusing, isn’t it? I could’ve gone for under 2.5 goals, but 1.68 (Unibet) does not really appeal to me under the circumstances. Maybe both teams to score then, as it includes the 1-1 scoreline, and is much more likely to be needed for the game to go over 2.5 goals anyway.
 
Pick:
 
Both teams to score @ 2.38 w/ Paddy Power