WORLD CUP QUALIFIER
Tuesday 9 June
France v Republic of Ireland, Stade des Alpes, Grenoble, 8pm (Irish time)
TV
Live coverage on RTÉ 2 and RTÉ Player from 7.30pm.
ONLINE
Live blog on RTÉ.ie/Sport and the RTÉ News app.
RADIO
Full match commentary on an extended Inside Sport, RTÉ Radio 1, till 10pm.
WEATHER
They’re anticipating it’ll be pretty stuffy in the south-east of France on Tuesday evening, with temperatures of around 24 degrees when the game kicks off.
A historic opportunity
After their remarkable, thrilling defeat of the Netherlands under a Cork downpour on Friday evening, the Republic of Ireland improbably have a puncher’s chance of reaching the World Cup via the direct route as they head into the final game.
It would be an extraordinary outcome for Ireland to top a League A group containing two of the game’s heavy hitters, with Carla Ward proclaiming that “it would be one of the biggest stories in world football”, if they can pull it off.
At the start of the group, the sum total of Ireland’s ambitions were to finish in runners-up spot in the group and avail of a seeded spot in the play-offs.
Last Friday’s unlikely win over the Dutch was a tribute to the side’s tenacity and their opportunism on the counter, which have been hallmarks for some time.
It was a night for sliding in Páirc Uí Chaoimh
As they did at home to France, Ward ordered that the pitch be narrowed to within an inch of the legal limit. Kyra Carusa’s first half goal had Ireland 1-0 in front at half-time against the run of play.
The Dutch held the ball for long stretches and when they finally equalised from the penalty spot through Dominique Janssen with 19 minutes remaining, it looked like Ireland’s fanciful dreams of automatic qualification spot had been extinguished.
But they hit back within seconds, Abbie Larkin latching on to a low cross at the near post, her deflected shot whizzing into the roof of the net.
The visitors would have to engineer another equaliser. As the outstanding Irish defence tired slightly, they found it with 10 minutes left, Victoria Pelova ramming home.
That would surely be it? Not so.
With two minutes left, Anna Patten got a glancing header on a free-kick from the right and Amber Barrett – scorer of the decisive goal in Glasgow in 2022 – slid in at the back post to nudge home the winner.
There was more sliding by the corner flag as the Irish players celebrated at the corner of the South Stand and City End in Páirc Uí Chaoimh. It was a night for sliding, generally.
We can expect conditions to be rather different in the Stade des Alpes in Grenoble. (For anyone of a rugby disposition, it feels strange to be writing the word Grenoble on an Irish news site without prefacing it with the words “Bernard Jackman’s”.)
It’ll be considerably warmer despite the local kick-off time of 9pm and the French will assuredly not be moving in the sidelines as Ireland did when the sides met in Tallaght in March.
Ireland led for nearly an hour in that game after Katie McCabe’s 12th minute opener. It wasn’t until the 70th minute that the French responded.
It was Manchester United striker Melvine Malard who turned the tables on the hosts, sliding home both goals as the top seeds began with a 2-1 win.
Melvine Malard’s brace sunk Ireland in Tallaght in March
Though in the final minute, Ireland were incredibly close to levelling. A corner wasn’t properly cleared and a brief digging match on the ground ended with Denise O’Sullivan whacking a shot which cannoned off the head of Marie-Antoinette Katoto, who was stationed on the line. She hardly knew much about it.
France have not been flawless since, losing 2-1 in Breda in April but they won with some ease in Poland last Friday, Malard again on target with Chelsea’s Sandy Baltimore doubling the lead after the hour mark.
The French coach Laurent Bonadei – who looks like a France national team manager from central casting – referenced the size of the pitch in Tallaght in Monday’s press conference, and said he was expecting his opposite number Ward to have “some ideas to disturb the opponent.”
Permutation situation – the fallback
It’s all wonderfully uncomplicated for Ireland, who know a win in France – while an unlikely result – will send them to Brazil.
Outside of that, they are already guaranteed a play-off.
The Dutch, hosting Poland in Almelo at the same time, can re-take second place in the group should they win while Ireland fail to get a victory in Grenoble.
But it’s all much of a muchness anyway.
Due to the vagaries of the qualification process, it doesn’t make any odds whether one finishes second or third in League A.
Either way, they will be facing a League C team in Round 1.
Should that be navigated, Round 2 will pit them against either a fourth placed League A side or an assortment of possible League B teams.
One way or the other, Ireland will be one of the favourites to emerge from the play-off process, even if it is two ties.
That all informs Ward’s fairly relaxed outlook on Tuesday’s game.
Carla Ward and Courtney Brosnan at Monday’s press conference
“By rights, a Pot Four team isn’t expected to even stay in League A, let alone win two or three matches, and be on the verge of winning the group,” she said on the eve of the game.
“We have already written our own history and broken records along this journey, but tomorrow night represents our biggest opportunity yet.
“The pressure is completely off us. There is a real sense of calm and a sharp focus around the squad. We truly have nothing to lose and absolutely everything to gain. Our processes stay exactly the same; we won’t change how we prepare. It’s another game of football, and we are going out there to try and win it.”
History corner – Ireland topping a group?
If Ireland do shock the football world and win away to France then it will be the first time a senior team of either sex has topped a World Cup group.
The men’s team reached the 1990 and 1994 World Cups after finishing runner-up to Spain in both groups, in an era when two teams progressed directly from most groups (with the exception of the worst placed runners-up).
In the ’94 campaign, they still did succeed in pushing the reigning European champions Denmark into third place, albeit only just.
The team that qualified for the 2002 World Cup did everything but top the group, winning seven and drawing three of their 10 qualifying matches, famously dumping out the Netherlands thanks to Jason McAteer’s winner in September 2001. (After which Mick McCarthy delivered another of his patented Barnsley-isms, threatening to bare his backside in “Burton’s window” if McAteer continued to sit on the bench at club level.)
It wasn’t enough to top a fiendishly difficult group as Portugal had accumulated the same record and with a superior goal difference.
FIFA had made it tougher for UEFA nations in the interim and even after all that, Ireland still had to navigate a play-off with Iran – which wasn’t quite as nervy an affair as was portrayed in the recent Saipan movie. The late Brian Glanville was particularly outraged that Ireland still had to face Iran after eliminating the Dutch though one can’t recall much complaining over here.
What of Ireland’s last World Cup, the women’s World Cup in Australia in 2023?
Plonked in a group with the Swedes, a traditional powerhouse in the women’s game, it was hardly considered a runner that Ireland could top the group, though they did come mightily close to grabbing a landmark win away in Gothenburg. They were only denied by Kosovare Asllani’s leveller 11 minutes from time.
Amber Barrett poking home the winning goal in Glasgow
After the trauma of missing out on the Euros in England, the runners-up spot and a play-off place was the principal target. This was achieved with some ease, Vera Pauw’s side dispatching their most plausible challengers, the Finns, home and away to claim second spot.
That teed up the glorious night in Hampden Park in October 2022.
While it may not have been a World Cup, the Scots were central to the only time an Irish side of either sex did top a qualification group.
That was for Euro ’88, which only allowed eight entrants and where nothing less would have sufficed.
Ireland had assumed their chance had gone, even after they completed their programme with an impressive 2-0 win over Bulgaria – Paul McGrath and Kevin Moran with the goals.
With Ireland on a bye-week and Jackie Charlton paying no attention whatsoever back in Newcastle, Saint Gary of Mackay wrote his name into Irish folklore over in Sofia.
This Irish team get a chance to emulate that group if they can pull off an improbable win on Tuesday.
Watch France v Republic of Ireland in FIFA Women’s World Cup qualifying on Tuesday from 7.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow our live blog on RTÉ.ie/sport and RTÉ News app and listen to commentary on Inside Sport on RTÉ Radio 1