Ireland play France in the World Cup play-offs this week with many commentators already writing off their chances of making it to South Africa next summer. However, here are 5 reasons why Republic of Ireland fans can still dream about World Cup 2010 despite being drawn against a team that has already been seeded twice. Vocabulary support can be found for the words in bold at the foot of the post.

1.Trapattoni

The pedigree of the current Irish manager is there for all to see – 7 Italian titles, 1 European Cup, 3 UEFA Cups, 1 Cup Winners Cup, as well as league titles in Germany, Portugal and Austria. With his wealth of experience he has taken a squad that had been in disarray, and instilled in it organisation, belief and tactical nous, as well as a large slice of luck (see below). This has lead to an unbeaten 10-match qualifying campaign despite having played without many of the team’s top stars. Most of this turnaround has been down to the influence of ‘Trap’. Put it another way, which manager would you want in charge of such an imoprtant game, Trapattoni or Domenech?

2. Raymond Domenech

Put simply, the French manager is not liked by the majority of his countrymen and crucially by some of his own squad. Strange indeed for a man who lead France to the World Cup final in 2006. Trappatoni may infuriate some of the Irish fans by not going to see players as often as he should or that he seems to have some kind of a vendetta against players such as Andy Reid but at least he has not picked a player based on his star sign, proposed marriage on TV straight after a dismal defeat in last year’s European Championship or called the opposing team an England B Team, which is what Domenech called Ireland last month.

3. Luck

Fans might be forgiven for thinking that luck has finally run out for ‘Trap’ after drawing the French and then having to play the second leg away in Paris but until now he has been blessed with more than his fair share of good fortune. The hostile home support Ireland were supposed to face in Tblisi against Georgia in the first qualifying game never materialised as Russia’s military marched into that country around the same time causing the game to be moved to Mainz in Germany. Cyprus were already injury-hit when they came to Dublin last year and then lost another key player in the pre-match warm-up. Bulgarian star Dimitar Berbatov also did not play against Ireland in Dublin due to injury, while in another home game – this time against Montenegro – a non-existent but gladly accepted penalty decision gave the Irish a foothold back into a game in which they had been struggling. But the luck was not restricted to matches in Croke Park. Away in Italy, the home team were reduced to ten men early on after a most dubious red card decision went our way. The question is, can this luck hold out for a couple more games?

4. The fans

French supporters have commented that Ireland was the team they did not want to face and the principle reason was the support of the Irish fans. The last time that these two sides met in Paris in 2001 in a World Cup qualifier, nearly half of the 80.000 supporters in the stadium were wearing green. Whereas the Irish fans have belief in their team, the same cannot be said of the French supporters who are notorious for turning on their own team – particularly when they feel that some of those players do not appear to be trying.

5. Franck Ribéry, Karim Benzema and Patrick Viera

Ribéry will play no part in the play-offs as he has a knee injury and the Irish team will have breathed a huge sigh of relief as he is the one person who can unlock any defence at crucial times in a game. Benzema will play but the Real Madrid striker has already admitted that he does not try as much for the national team as he does for his club side which did not endear him to fans, pundits and, of course, his team mates. A further denting of the spirit in the camp came when Patrick Viera was not named by Domenech in his squad and promptly went on the attack claiming that no one was better than him in his position. The spirit in the French camp is not the best which is of course the direct opposite to Ireland’s.

So, hopefully Irish fans are feeling a little more confident. If they make it to South Africa it will be a wonderful achievement as they would have done so by playing against both World Cup finalists from Germany 2006. Let us know what you think is going to happen by voting in the poll below and / or leaving a comment.

Vocabulary

The pedigree: The history (positive)

wealth of experience: A large amount of experience, very experienced

was in disarray: To be in a mess

tactical nous:Good understanding of the game

infuriate: To make mad or angry

a vendetta : To have a grudge against someone

his star sign: His horoscope (suggestion of superstition)

‘Trap’ : the nickname of the Ireland manager Trappatoni

the second leg: The second game of two matches (home and away)

hostile home support: Aggressive and noisy set of fans

a foothold: To gain ground, to get some initiative

dubious: Not very certain, here it means slightly lucky as well

notorious for turning on their own team: Famous for not always supporting their team

pundits : Experts on football

denting of the spirit in the camp: Damaging the morale of the team