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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? continue