Ireland-France: UEFA World Cup Playoff First Leg Preview

On Nov. 14, France will travel to Croke Park in Dublin to take on the Irish National team in the most hyped UEFA World Cup playoff.

In group qualifying, Ireland finished second in Group Eight behind Italy with 18 points, while France barely missed getting the automatic bid in Group Seven, finishing just one point behind Serbia in getting an automatic spot in next year's World Cup.

This game will be the first matchup between both of these teams since 2005, in which France won their first game in Ireland in 52 years on a goal by Thierry Henry.

Here is a preview of this extremely hyped World Cup qualifier for both Ireland and France, and what each side must do in order to succeed.

Ireland

After a great qualifying campaign, Ireland will look to finish the job as now only France are in the way of Ireland going to their first World Cup since 2002.

And in the first match of this playoff, they are at home at Croke Park, where they have only lost once during this round of World Cup qualifying. It is an extremely hard place for opposing countries to win at.

And Croke Park will be a major key in this playoff, as Ireland will look to use their home-field advantage to get a victory before heading out to Paris during the second leg.

Also, the Irish will want to prove the French and their under-fire manager Raymond Domenech wrong after Domenech stated that the Irish national team are the equivalent of England's B team.

And finally, Ireland know that they will need a win at Croke Park in order to make it easier for them to qualify for next year's World Cup.

Finally, if Ireland could do all of this, they will have a great chance of qualifying for next year's World Cup.

France

After barely missing out of an automatic qualification spot in Group Seven, France will look to qualify for next year's World Cup by getting past Ireland in this playoff.

Because they failed to qualify in what was considered to be one of Europe's weaker groups, pressure has been building on French manager Raymond Domenech, and failure to reach the World Cup would be a major disappointment for the French.

So with all of this in mind, the French must come out of the gate and get the Croke Park crowd out of the game as soon as possible, as an early away goal will be crucial if the French are going to go to the World Cup.

Also, the French must also take out any momentum that the Irish have and cannot concede a goal, as the French cannot allow Ireland to have any goals heading into France on Nov. 18.

And finally, France must play with lots of heart and they know that they must get back to the World Cup.

Finally, you can definitely expect a great World Cup qualifier between Ireland and France on Nov. 14, as both of these countries want to make it to the World Cup next year, but only one country will complete the journey and get to South Africa.