France vs Republic of Ireland Preview

France head into this game unbeaten against the Irish since 1981 and this generation of players will be looking to keep that record intact after this warm up friendly for the World Cup.

France have impressed greatly under the leadership of Didier Deschamp and he led them to the Euro final in 2016 where they narrowly lost to Portugal.

France needed to see off a spirited Sweden side and Holland to qualify for this summer’s FIFA World Cup and they will be looking to live up to their billing as one of the favourites.

Deschamp has so much talent at his disposal he had to drop the likes of Anthony Martial, Adrien Rabiot, Kingsley Coman and Alexandre Lacazette while picking up surprise names like Steven Nzonzi and Benjamin Pavard who both have a huge point to prove in this game.

The Republic of Ireland has done very well under the management of Martin O’Neil over the past few years with the highlight of his reign being when they came close to upsetting France at Euro 2016.

They missed out on qualification for this summer’s World Cup after losing to Denmark in the playoffs.

However, this game offers them the chance to give some of their young players debuts as several first team players have made themselves unavailable to play.

Results of each team’s last 5 matches across all leagues and competitions

France

LAST FIVE GAMES						DATE	COMPETITION
W	Russia		1-3		France	27 Mar, 2018	International Friendly
L	France		2-3		Colombia	23 Mar, 2018	International Friendly
D	Germany		2-2		France	14 Nov, 2017	International Friendly
W	France		2-0		Wales	10 Nov, 2017	International Friendly
W	France		2-1		Belarus	10 Oct, 2017	FIFA World Cup Qualifying –

Republic of Ireland

LAST FIVE GAMES						DATE	COMPETITION
L	Turkey		1-0		Republic of Ireland	23 Mar, 2018	International Friendly
L	Republic of Ireland		1-5		Denmark	14 Nov, 2017	FIFA World Cup Qualifying –
D	Denmark		0-0		Republic of Ireland	11 Nov, 2017	FIFA World Cup Qualifying –
W	Wales		0-1		Republic of Ireland	9 Oct, 2017	FIFA World Cup Qualifying –
W	Republic of Ireland		2-0		Moldova	6 Oct, 2017	FIFA World Cup Qualifying –

H2H

LAST FIVE GAMES					DATE	COMPETITION
France		2-1		Republic of Ireland	26 Jun, 2016	European Championship
France		1-1		Republic of Ireland	18 Nov, 2009	FIFA World Cup Qualifying –
Republic of Ireland		0-1		France	14 Nov, 2009	FIFA World Cup Qualifying –
Republic of Ireland		0-1		France	7 Sep, 2005	FIFA World Cup Qualifying –
France		0-0		Republic of Ireland	9 Oct, 2004	FIFA World Cup Qualifying –