It’s a done deal, reckon former stars, as French confidence soars

SHORT of announcing they’ve chartered a plane to take them to Johannesburg, French media, former French players and French sportsmen and women of all persuasions could hardly be more clear in their belief that the national team is already bound for South Africa next summer.

The latest edition of ‘France Football’ polled 50 of the country’s former stars, with one-time Arsenal winger Robert Pires nailing popular consensus with the declaration that France were much the superior technical side in Dublin and “should finish things off quickly in Paris”.

In an editorial, the magazine was even more damning of Irish efforts in Dublin, saying: “France won against a team that was much more limited than we had expected, even physically.”