Mick McCarthy Expects Ireland To Beat France & Qualify For The World Cup

Former Republic of Ireland manager Mick McCarthy has predicted that Giovanni Trapattoni will guide Ireland to the World Cup finals in South Africa. The Wolverhampton Wanderers boss has insisted that a reasonably favourable draw against France will help the Irish to success.

“I think they can do it," McCarthy told The Irish Times. "They are hard to beat and [coach Giovanni] Trapattoni has got a list of successes as long as my arm and my leg put together. There’s every chance they can do it because they’ve got good players and they’ll have the belief.

"Also, I looked at the fixtures and I have to be honest - I’d sooner be going to France in the second leg than going to Portugal, Russia or Greece. If they can keep a clean sheet in Ireland, I’d be happier going to France than going to Greece with the atmosphere there.

"Or Russia, possibly playing on a plastic pitch, or Portugal, who I’ve seen playing in the last three games and probably shouldn’t have ended up in the play-offs. I wouldn’t be so negative about playing France, and they did finish second in the group, remember."

Ireland start the play-offs with a home game on November 14 before the return leg four days later.