Early Doors - Your morning briefing blog

Why Ireland will beat France

Tue Oct 20 08:55AM

Five reasons why the Republic of Ireland will win their World Cup play-off against France.

1 - Giovanni Trapattoni

It has become fashionable for coaches of technically-limited sides to attempt to play the game "the right way". They try to pass their way to victory despite possessing the poise and vision of a steaming-drunk Stevie Wonder. And they come unstuck. Witness how West Brom's approximation of a slick passing game earned more plaudits than points in last season's Premier League. Trap is from the old school. He has no truck with this commitment to the beautiful game. His sides play to their strengths. Ireland don't have creative central midfielders, so he gets Keith Andrews and Glenn Whelan to boot the hell out of the opposition instead. Knocking it long down the flanks for the wingers to chase might not make too many friends, but it's the sort of pragmatism that makes him the rightful heir to Jack Charlton, and it might just get Ireland to the World Cup.

2 - Raymond Domenech (pictured)

What is there left to say about France's king of comedy, except: "I see he's been sacked at last"? A natural charmer, Domenech reacted to yesterday's draw by calling Ireland "the England B team" - a remark he will not be allowed to forget should the Irish prevail. After Euro 2008, French fans had a national whip-round hoping to raise enough money to pay Domenech to leave. Even Michel Platini is not a fan. Last week, he said: "Raymond will leave (after the World Cup), that's for sure. His problem isn't football, but that of his communication." A possible rapprochement with long-term nemesis David Trezeguet promises more fireworks.

3 - Travelling support

An Irish colleague of Early Doors was praying to be drawn against the French because, he said, the away leg would be like a home game. Within 10 minutes of the draw being made he had his Eurostar booked and his fingers crossed that the game would not - like France's qualifier against the Faroe Islands - be moved to Guingamp. An estimated 30,000 travelled the last time Ireland visited Paris in 2004 (the match ended goalless) and more are expected this time. And, to make the Irish influence even greater, the France side will have to deal with the Stade de France...

4 - Stade de France

Some people say the Stade de France has no atmosphere. They are wrong. It's hostile, all right. Problem is, the venom is usually directed at the home side. The French are not the most patient or tolerant people in the world. If they don't like something, they make their feelings known. Usually by going on strike. In sport, their displeasure manifests itself in the form of ear-splitting whistles, directed at any player who is not up to scratch. Which, in France's stuttering qualifying campaign, has been most of them. In their 1-0 win over Lithuania, France were jeered as early as the 40th minute, got booed off at half-time and, ludicrously, booed back on when they emerged for the second half.

5 - Karma

FIFA supremo Sepp Blatter has invested so much of his credibility in the South Africa World Cup, he is hell-bent on making it a success. You feel this determination motivated the late decision to seed the European play-off draw in favour of the 'good' teams. This chicanery cannot have pleased the football gods, and it would be no surprise to see Sepp get his karmic comeuppance in the form of an Irish victory. Also, to say the French do not deal well with pressure is something of an understatement. Their outrageous meltdown against Bulgaria in 1993 still causes sleepless nights, while the country's greatest ever player chose the World Cup final as the perfect stage to nut a guy for talking about his sister.

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Whether by design or luck, Yahoo! Eurosport's advertising people have really come up trumps today.

Great swathes of website space have been sold to an electronics company who, for reasons best known for themselves, have chosen to illustrate their latest campaign with space hoppers.

Hence, the site is absolutely covered with hundreds of bouncy, inflatable spheres.

Just chop off the handles and replace the faces with a Liverpool crest and - Hey Presto! - you've got a beach ball themed website.

- - -

Fresh from winning a victory for free speech in the Trafigura case - in which they overturned an injunction against the reporting of a parliamentary question about toxic waste dumping in Ivory Coast (fascinating, ED is sure) - the Guardian have set their sights on a source of even purer evil; Ken Bates.

The moral crusaders were not at last night's game between Leeds and Norwich because they have been banned from Elland Road.

The Guardian's David Conn has written articles suggesting there is confusion over the club's ownership and revealing that Bates made "an error" in a sworn statement in court over the issue. Clearly, the League One leaders are not best pleased and have denied the paper accreditation.

Consequently, there is no match report either in the Guardian itself or on its website, which rather begs the question: didn't they realise it was on the telly?

In any case, ED fears the Guardian's latte-slurpers may have met their match. They might be able to take down a global commodities dealer and their fearsome lawyers Carter-Ruck, but Ken Bates? A tougher adversary altogether.

- - -

QUOTE OF THE DAY: Rafa Benitez responds to claims he never congratulates his players and talked about corners after Fernando Torres learned he was to become a father: "When you repeat a lie a lot of times, it becomes true. I have a lot of conversations with the players, as individuals and in groups, about positives and negatives.  We have normal conversations, but I suppose they have to sell books, and to do that you have to write something If they do well, I say well done. I have said that hundreds of times, especially when we win. You cannot be close friends, because you have to make decisions. But the relationship is not bad. I was surprised with Fernando saying what he did in his book. It's true I spoke to him about the goal (in last season's 2-0 win) against Chelsea, but it is a different situation in the dressing room.  I offered him my congratulations about the baby, but I suppose you have to sell books."

FOREIGN VIEW: Serie A's bottom side Livorno have sacked de facto coach Gennaro Ruotolo, with official boss Vittorio Russo also appearing to be on the brink of losing his job.

Ruotolo led the side to promotion last season but did not have the necessary coaching badges for the top-flight so Russo, who had the qualifications, was brought in to shadow him.

"I'm really sorry but Livorno comes before everything and a change was needed," club president Aldo Spinelli said after dismissing good friend Ruotolo.

Former Parma and Empoli coach Luigi Cagni has said he is interested in the post, if Russo leaves as well, while media reports have said Spinelli wants to bring in former Italy and Milan boss Arrigo Sacchi as technical director.

ENGLAND WORLD CUP WATCH: A big day for England's strikers, who are doing their best to clown their way out of a seat on the plane to South Africa. Peter Crouch is pictured in the Daily Mail dancing ludicrously with Jonathan Woodgate (isn't he meant to be injured?) in tacky West End nightspot Movida. Meanwhile, The Sun claims Emile Heskey was the naughty boy caught texting during dinner by Fabio Capello, prompting the Italian to hurl a metal tray across the room. Darren Bent must be rubbing his hands with delight.

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