France vs Republic of Ireland
International Friendlies
Date: Monday, 28 May 2018
Kick-Off at 20:00 UK / 21:00 CET
Venue: Stade de France, Paris.
France host Republic of Ireland in the replay of EURO 2016 R16 clash on Monday in the capital of Paris. Whilst this match will be of a much lower significance being only of a friendly character, it might well provide some answers mainly to French team fans as for whom they can expect to see in the first XI at the World Cup in Russia.
The head coach Didier Deschamps made some weird calls leaving out the likes of Alexandre Lacazette, Dmitri Payet, Wissam Ben Yedder, Anthony Martial or Kingsley Coman from the WC squad. This only confirms the huge depth Les Bleus have and they have to be among the closest contenders for the silverware this summer in Russia regardless of the somewhat slower EURO 2016 runners-up had in the qualifying process.
France vs Republic of Ireland: Head-to-head
This will be the 18th head to head encounter between France and Republic or Ireland.
Les Bleus won 8 and lost 4 so far. The French side was much more successful in matches on the home soil where they won 5 and lost just 1 of 9 meetings with Republic of Ireland.
Irish fans still remember Henry’s hand which sent Les Bleus to the World Cup in South Africa back from 2009 when the two teams locked horns in the WC Qualifications play-offs.
France vs Republic of Ireland: Prediction
Martin O’Neill’s side has been struggling badly to find goals of late as they notched just one in last three games. Two came against Denmark in the WC playoffs when Republic of Ireland suffered a humiliating 1-5 loss in the rematch in front of the home crowd at Aviva Stadium after the first leg brought no goals. Furthermore, the Irish squad failed to recover in the first outing of 2018 falling 1-0 away at Turkey in a friendly in March.
France have an immense depth on display all over the pitch and they have to be massive favourites to see off the modest Republic of Ireland side here. Kylian Mbappe was the one who stole the show in the 1-3 win over Russia in what served as a comeback win after a shocking 2-3 loss to Colombia. The host will no doubts score two or more goals with ease here, but can they keep things tight at the back without the likes of Raphael Varane and Samuel Umtiti? Instead of backing the hosts to keep a clean sheet, we’ll go for them to have the lead at the half time and win the match at the end at the odds of 1.66.
France vs Republic of Ireland: Betting Tips
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France Over 2.5 Team Goals @ 2.20
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HT/FT France/France @ 1.66.
Coming-up: Team News & Expected Starting Line-ups.
