Time to give Jacques a lash

THERE was no French translator present in the Stade de France for Ireland’s pre-match press conference ahead of tonight’s make or break World Cup play-off against France.

Yet there were no vocal complaints from the small knot of local media folk who were hugely outnumbered by visiting journalists. The same kick-off time for the French press conference down at their sumptuous Clairefontaine base outside Paris was obviously a factor but, for a football match of such magnitude as tonight’s fixture here in Paris, you would have expected at least a few Gallic protests yesterday as Giovanni Trapattoni’s words were translated from Italian into English and, indeed, from England into English, but never into the hosts’ tongue.

But while the Irish scribes hung on his every word – when they weren’t getting hung up about his every other word – the French seemed to be taking an entirely relaxed attitude to the whole affair. And you couldn’t help thinking that, no matter what fine or fiery words might have been spoken by the Ireland manager or his team captain Robbie Keane yesterday, the French laissez faire approach was based entirely on their conviction that the only meaningful talking will be done on the pitch at the same venue tonight – and the fluent and winning words, they are thoroughly convinced, will all belong to Les Bleus.

You can hardly blame them. Logic, history, the bookies’ odds and maybe even Monsieur Domenech’s beloved Zodiac all point to French qualification for the World Cup being secured here tonight, with salt set to be rubbed into the Irish wound ripped open by Nicolas Anelka’s deflected goal at Croke Park on Saturday night.

Yet where there’s life, there’s hope, and even if it takes an act of unprecedented giant-killing on the part of this Irish team, the camp insists with one voice that the greatest comeback in the nation’s football history is not beyond them.

But in order to create the mere possibility for that to happen, Trapattoni and his players know that, at the bare minimum, this team must do something which it has managed to do only once – and that was at home to Cyprus – in 10 games in the current qualifying campaign: they must score at one end and not concede at the other.

Or to put it in the vernacular: if Ireland get a goal, it’s game on. If France get a goal, it’s game over (Unless Ireland’s greatest comeback is to become even greater. As someone who was present in Istanbul on the night when Liverpool turned all logic on its head in the Champions League final, I’ve learned first hand not to rule out anything in this crazy game – but the idea of Ireland finding the net two or even three times in the Stade de France tonight would surely test even Trapattoni’s definition of fantasia).

The key to Ireland keeping this tie alive lies in the balance the team must strike between caution and risk, between pressing for the goal they must have and guarding against the goal they dare not let in.

“I think about this possibility,” said Trapattoni yesterday, “and I believe we have the players who are suitable for this situation. If we keep a cool head, we can use our feet to score a goal.”

And, having reviewed Saturday night’s game and closely studied the players in training since then, the manager has concluded that Ireland’s cause in their hour and a half of need is best served by sending out the same 11 players who started in Croke Park.

“After the match I said that one or two players had played below their normal performance and I thought it was maybe possible to change,” Trapattoni explained. “But then I watched the game again two or three times and I think they all deserve to play again. All of them have recovered energy and I am sure they can do 90 minutes – or more.” Trapattoni is also hopeful that France will look to play a more expansive game in Paris tonight than they did, at least in the first half, in Dublin, when they often worked the ball front to middle to back.

“I hope France take the game to us,” he said. “They cannot be defensive at home and play like they sometimes did in Dublin. That was very tactical but I cannot believe they will play the same game here.”

While the lifting of the punishment for yellow cards suggests even more intensity will be brought to bear on tonight’s exchanges, the Italian insisted he had no concern that the Keith Andrews/Lassana Diarra subplot could lead to things boiling over in Paris.

“No,” he said. “I know what happened after the game – it was just players in the spotlight feeling the pressure. We have forgotten it all.”

But it’s what Trapattoni has remembered from a long career as a player and manager in high-stakes games which can be of value to his players when he sends them climbing up the mountain tonight.

Never say never. Matches are won and lost in the final minute. Every Wednesday and Sunday, in England and in Europe, favourites are beaten. With belief, anything is possible. And it is still only half-time.

Trapattoni deployed all his positive thinking mantras for the press yesterday. But it was his words to the players earlier in the week which, one hopes, carried the most weight.

“I told them that they didn’t deserve to lose in Dublin,” he said. “I told them that we still have 90 minutes to play. And we said to each other that we must believe we can do it and can achieve qualification. Football can disappoint you but it always gives you another chance. This is our chance.”

Their last chance too. Forensic appraisal can be parked for another day. For now, we can only hope that wonderful players like Damien Duff and Robbie Keane and Richard Dunne are not denied what could be their last shot at football’s heavyweight crown. The odds are stacked against them but, as we might have put it in the good old days: it’s time to give Jacques a lash.