{"id":489027,"date":"2026-06-08T13:37:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T13:37:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/489027\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T13:37:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T13:37:08","slug":"it-would-be-one-of-the-biggest-stories-in-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/489027\/","title":{"rendered":"It would be one of the biggest stories in football"},"content":{"rendered":"

Republic of Ireland boss Carla Ward believes victory for her side against France in Tuesday’s World Cup qualifier showdown would be “one of the biggest stories in world football”.<\/p>\n

After Friday night’s stirring defeat of the Netherlands<\/a> in Cork, the group’s bottom seeds find themselves in an incredible position: if Ireland win here tomorrow against the world’s No 7-ranked team, they will go straight to next summer’s tournament in Brazil as the group winners. If they lose, they head for the autumn play-offs as one of the seeded sides, which was Ward’s target at the outset.<\/p>\n

Ireland narrowed the pitch at SuperValu P\u00e1irc U\u00ed Chaoimh where conditions were awful. It will be warm in Grenoble, even at 9pm when the game kicks off (8pm Irish time). There’s also expected to be a very small travelling support. around 40, so if Ireland are to pull this off, they’re going to have to do it in a partisan atmosphere where the heat will sap the huge energy required to shut down France’s carousel of threats.<\/p>\n

Ward, speaking at Stades des Alpes in Grenoble on Monday morning, is defiant.<\/p>\n

“First of all, no matter what happens tomorrow night, this group can be incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved so far,” said Ward.<\/p>\n

“That is number one, and it’s important that we don’t lose sight of the actual development of the group. Of course, we want to go and win the game. We wanted to win the game the other night, and we made sure we did.<\/p>\n

“How big it would be? I think you would all agree it would be one of the biggest sporting stories in world football, because no pot four team stays in League A, let alone wins two games and then wins three games and then wins the group. We’ve already written our own records, and this would be the biggest one, no doubt about it.”<\/p>\n

\"5
\nIreland are chasing a momentous victory<\/p>\n

Ruesha Littlejohn did not train today as she manages her Achilles, but there are no fresh injury concerns. Denise O’Sullivan and Emily Murphy return from suspension to give Ward more options, and perhaps a headache. Abbie Larkin, in particular, will hope to say in the starting XI after picking up the player of the match award last Friday.<\/p>\n

“These players give us everything all the time,” Ward said when asked about her options.<\/p>\n

“(I’ve said) that probably consistently over the last six months. They\u2019re a joy to work with and they constantly pose us a lot of questions. We have to select the team that we believe can win us the game.<\/p>\n

“I have a massive amount of faith and belief in this team and like I keep saying, there’s a reason I took over this national team and it was what they stand for. Someone asked me the other day, have you ever had to question a player in training? This is the first group of players I don’t think I’ve ever had to question an attitude and mentality, a work rate, a desire, a character, I could go on.<\/p>\n

“I think I said it right early on when the groups came out. Everyone called it the group of death and we saw it as an opportunity for this group to show what they’re about and look, like I keep saying, they deserve an awful lot of credit because they’re showing it in abundance.”<\/p>\n

If Ireland are to plunder a famous win, they’ll need goalkeeper Courtney Brosnan to be at her absolute best.<\/p>\n

The Everton stopper, who played in France for Ambilly and Le Havre, was supreme against the Dutch, producing a couple of excellent saves while breathing calm through the whole team with her good hands and sound decision-making.<\/p>\n

Republic of Ireland goalkeeper Courtney Brosnan says belief is very high as they face a crunch clash in France with a World Cup place at stake<\/p>\n

Watch France v Republic of Ireland on Tuesday from 7.30pm on RT\u00c92 and RT\u00c9 Player. Listen to commentary on Inside Sport on RT\u00c9 Radio 1 pic.twitter.com\/fzsBU3bhV8<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 RT\u00c9 Sport (@RTEsport) June 8, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

She’s also bullish about the underdogs’ chances.<\/p>\n

“I think the performance against the Netherlands was massive for us,” said Brosnan.<\/p>\n

“It just gives us that confidence that we can put in these performances against big nations.<\/p>\n

“As a keeper, I want to do whatever I can to help the team, whether that\u2019s making no saves or one save or ten saves, whatever it is. I\u2019ll be ready. We just have such a united, strong team and squad. Once we step out on the pitch, we\u2019ll give everything to get the result.”<\/p>\n

Ward accepted that a boisterous home crowd will demand a quick, purposeful start from Les Bleus. However she sees a way to flip that advantage, frustrating the natives early to play on home nerves.<\/p>\n

“We’ll do a bit of work on it tonight, on what that might look like, how we might feel in those moments,” she added.<\/p>\n

“I expect the French to come after us. I don’t expect the French to underestimate us at all. I think they were really respectful when we played them last time, and we have to manage every single moment going.<\/p>\n

“So we’ll put it this way, we’ll leave no stone unturned. We’ll have conversations tonight, and we’ll bring that to life of how we’ll react to those feelings.” <\/p>\n

Watch France v Republic of Ireland in FIFA Women’s World Cup qualifying on Tuesday from 7.30pm on RT\u00c92 and RT\u00c9 Player. Follow our live blog on RT\u00c9.ie\/sport and RT\u00c9 News app and listen to commentary on Inside Sport on RT\u00c9 Radio 1<\/p>\n