METRO FREE Friday, November 13, 2009 World Cup game is make or break BY ROSS McDONAGH Come on Ireland Green for go: Aoife Cogan and Karena Graham, kitted out at Carrolls of Dublin, were yesterday asking all Irish people to wear green for the match tomorrow Picture: Photocall THEYRE bigger than us. Theres more of them. Theyve won more stuff. But some might say the French flag didnt al- ways have blue and red on either end... it used to be just plain white! Just one more team stands between Ireland and a place at next summers World Cup, and they come to Croke Park tomorrow night. The Republic will be hoping their world-fa- mous supporters will make the difference when they take on the 1998 world champions at 8pm in the first of two legs. It has been eight long years since Ireland last qualified for a major tournament, beating Iran in a play-off ahead of the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan. Before that, play-offs had been a bit of a curse for Ireland, losing three in a row in another eight-year tournament drought. But with the country united behind manager Giovanni Trapattoni, who has masterminded an unbeaten run through the qualification cam- paign thus far, belief is at an all-time high. Bookmaker William Hill has reported a flurry of activity after magician Keith Barry predicted captain Robbie Keane will score the first goal of the game, which will end 2-1 in our favour. The bookie was forced to cut the odds of that happening from 50/1 to 40/1. Assistant coach Liam Brady insists there is no reason the Boys in Green cannot return to Les Bleus with a win under their belts next week, a view reflected by Taoiseach Brian Cowen. We saw where the world champions Italy couldnt beat us over a two-game series during the qualification process, Mr Cowen said. Weve two games against the French, theyre a good side and theyve a lot of good individual players. But whether they have the same sense of teamwork and cohesion that we have, and the consistency that weve built up during this qualification series, remains to be seen. While fans can watch the game from 7pm on RT tomorrow, seeing the return leg in Paris on Wednesday might be more difficult. RT and Sky Sports are still wrangling with the French Football Federation, which is report- edly asking for 1.5million for the rights after the FAI handed the home leg to the highest bid- der, independent channel M6, for 4.5million. Countdown to tomorrows big match See Sport: Pages 26, 27 & 28 index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html24.html25.html26.html27.html28.html29.html30.html31.html