Evra ‘obsessed’ with play-off

FRANCE defender Patrice Evra has admitted to becoming ‘obsessed’ about the World Cup play-off matches against Ireland this week and has called the two games ‘the biggest of my career’.

The Manchester United defender, who has played in three Champions League finals, is taking things so seriously that he is even boycotting the colour green to prepare himself for the game.

The full-back, who has seen off the challenge of Gael Clichy and Eric Abidal to make the left-back spot his own, has been warned by team-mate John O’Shea to expect ‘hell’ at Croke Park on Saturday night. But he has responded in kind and insisted that his team have the fighting spirit to see off the Irish.

“I have been saying to myself that the two biggest matches of my career are coming up,” said Evra.

“They are over and above my three Champions League finals. They mean so much to the rest of my career.

“If we don’t go to the World Cup it will be a terrible blow. I’ve been thinking about these two games every day since the draw was made. It’s become an obsession. We will be playing for our country. I’ve really become very conscious of that. I’ve never been so aware of the situation and never put the France team as much of a priority than in these last few months.”

Evra’s desire to win the play-off has even seeped into his everyday life, where he is convinced the Irish team colour of green is more prevalent than it used to be. “For a few days now I’ve felt under the impression that certain people are deliberately wearing green, but maybe it’s just me,” he said.

“The other day I opened a can of Sprite, I looked at it and said to myself, ‘No, I’m not going to have that,’ and I changed it for another drink.

“It was because the can was green. Every time I see green right now, it’s Ireland.”

The fact that the World Cup finals, the prize for the winner of these two games, are in South Africa is another huge source of motivation for Evra and his team-mates.

“I don’t want to finish my career and say to myself that I never won anything at the international level,” he told L’Equipe. “I don’t want to even imagine us going out against Ireland: it’s a World Cup, it’s in Africa, where many players in our team have their roots; it’s in the country of Nelson Mandela, to whom the black community owes so much. All of that adds up to such an important thing.”

Evra has urged the French public to get behind the team, but his request seemed to fall on deaf ears when, on Monday, the France coach Raymond Domenech was booed when his picture was shown to tennis fans arriving with some players at the Paris-Bercy tennis tournament.

“We need to feel the whole country behind us,” urged Evra. “The Stade de France has to be transformed into an arena. It’s got to be boiling hot there, because John O’Shea has promised me that Croke Park will be hell for us. I have no apprehension about the away game, the France team likes these kinds of matches. We like it when it’s a question, first of all, of physical combat. A lot of players in our team have that fighting spirit. You can talk about tactics, about anything you want, but first and foremost it will come down to fighting spirit and without that you won’t be able to win this match. I’m not saying its going to be a war or like a boxing match, there are more important things in life but it will be a combat, and we will be ready for the fight.”