French connection may open up Croker
Playing at GAA headquarters can still only be an element of a wish-list for the FAI and the football community in Ireland but with substantial evidence of a swing towards the opening up of GAA headquarters, it is one that may well prove attainable.
The prospect of having to play France outside of Ireland in such a momentous match is one that does not bear thinking about after the Republic were handed a marvellous draw in Group Four of the qualifying tournament for the 2006 World Cup.
France, of course, are favourites to win the group and with a team of superstars available to manager Jacques Santini they are above all others by some distance. The reality is, however, that Ireland must have realistic hopes of snatching second position to the French and so advance to a play-off for a place in the finals, even their opponents again include Switzerland who dumped them out of the current European Championship.
Switzerland beat Ireland home and away to condemn them to third spot as the Swiss went on to win the group and Russia came through to edge Ireland out of a play-off for next year's European finals in Portugal. But the president of the Swiss FA, Ralph Loczower, put things into perspective when he said: "We have no God-given right to expect to be able to beat Ireland twice again. It will, of course, be more difficult after our experiences in the European qualifiers."
Ireland should have good thoughts about facing the other teams in the group Israel, Cyprus and the Faroe Islands, even if the latter caused a major upset during the European qualifiers by drawing 2-2 with Scotland in the Faroe Islands and held Germany to 2-1 in Germany before losing 2-0 to them at home.
Ireland's manager Brian Kerr in the UAE with Ireland's U20 World Cup finalists welcomed the draw in a phone conversation with Ireland's representatives in Frankfurt, but admitted he would have preferred to have avoided France.
He said: "I watched France play Switzerland in August and they have some of the best players in the world. France will present a huge task for us but I don't know where we will play the home game as everybody will want to see world class players such as Thierry Henry, Nicolas Anelka, Patrick Vieira, Sylvain Wiltord and Bixente Lizazaru.
"I simply don't know what ground is going to hold these people we might have to play it in the Phoenix Park like they did when the Pope came to Ireland!
"At the moment, it's too early to say when I would like to play the French we will look at all the options." It was predictable that Kerr's first thoughts should revolve around a possible venue for the game against France. It is certain that Lansdowne Road, even with the inclusion of the temporary seats, would not be big enough with 36,000 seats to accommodate all those who will want to see the match.
It is equally certain that a visit from France and their magnificent collection of players would ensure that Croke Park would be filled to its 80,000 capacity. But the issues involved are well documented and much remains to be done before it can take place there.
Meantime, Ireland can rejoice at having avoided some extraordinary difficult groupings from yesterday's draw not least Group Two, which consists of seven teams, all of whom will have ambitions of winning a sizeable number of points even if Turkey and Denmark will begin as favourites.
The Irish succeeded in avoiding the three groups of seven teams and this has the effect of freeing up a couple of dates in May which can now be used by Kerr for the important business of introducing new players to the team, a process he began a month ago against Canada.
Kerr's assessment of the group was upbeat as he surveyed the outcome of the Frankfurt draw after witnessing the U20 side defeat Mexico 2-0 in the UAE.
He said: "People looking at the group would say that apart from France we have got a chance.
"Switzerland have proven themselves to be a decent team and they played well against us in the two matches. It's a tough call, but if we can keep a clean sheet against them it will help.
"I think the fact that we are playing them will be motivational for the players but the main motivation will be to get as many points as we can."
He added: "Israel showed in the last European qualifiers that they are going to be different. We know that they are a much improved side.
"The Faroes gave Scotland a hard time in the last Euro qualifiers and drew 2-2 at home. They have Dane Henrik Larssen in charge of them now and he's tightened them up."
Uppermost in his mind, however, was the problem Ireland face as regards a suitable venue for the glamorous match against France.
"Of course I would be disappointed to move it out of Ireland and that's not a situation anybody would be happy with.
"However, I don't want to play them in Dublin with only 20,000 people watching. Against the best team in the world we are going to need every advantage we can get."
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
