Brady hoping to topple France

Republic of Ireland assistant manager Liam Brady is confident the time has come for the Republic of Ireland to end their long wait for victory over one of European football’s top guns like France.

A 1-0 World Cup qualifying victory over Holland in 2001 represented their last major scalp but now France await in a two-leg World Cup play-off.

“I think it’s very possible, to go to Paris with a win under our belts,” said Republic assistant boss Brady.

“If we can nearly beat a team like Italy, we can do the same to France.”

Giovanni Trapattoni’s men came within seconds of a win over reigning world champions Italy last month but Brady believes they can go one better to dump France out of the play-offs and book their trip to South Africa next summer.

“I know it’s maybe been a long time coming to defeat one of the top nations but the Italian game has given us great confidence and also taught us a couple of lessons that we need to take into this game,” added Brady.

“We conceded a goal against Italy from a set-piece, which we weren’t happy with, and then we didn’t hang on to our lead when we took it with a few minutes to go.

“We have learned big lessons from that game.”

The Republic assistant insists there will be no fear in the Irish camp, despite the plethora of big names in the French camp.

“We are not worried about them at all although we respect them,” he said.

“They have some choices to make on which players to go with up front but we can go on about France all day – it’s about what we do, and our players have a great belief in what we are doing.

“There is an understanding of what game we have to play against the French and that’s what concerns me most of all.

“We stick to that and we concentrate on that.

“There’s a really good team spirit and our players know what their jobs are – each and every one of them, and there’s a belief there that, if we stick to our game plan, we can qualify for the World Cup.

“Any advantage at all going to Paris would be very, very welcome and although the pressure is on them more so than us, we are both playing for a place in the World Cup finals, so it’s enormous.

“But if we were to carry a lead to Paris, the pressure would pile on them.”