LONDON, Oct 19 — France will have to get past the Republic of Ireland to reach next year’s World Cup finals after they were drawn together in the two-legged European playoffs today.
Portugal, who scraped into the playoffs after clinching runner-up spot in their group in their last fixture against Malta, face Bosnia, Euro 2004 champions Greece tackle Ukraine and Russia will play Slovenia.
France, the 1998 world champions and beaten finalists in 2006, will have the advantage of playing the second leg on home soil against an Irish side coached by Italian Giovanni Trapattoni.
Portugal, Greece and Russia, the three other seeded nations in the draw, will all have to play the second legs of their ties away from home. The first legs take place on Nov. 14 with the returns on Nov. 18. — Reuters
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France are coming back into form. They will go through against Republic of Ireland.
Portugal may find Bosnia-H a tough nut to crack and having to play the second leg away may pose some danger unless Ronaldo and Co finish the first leg at home with at least a 2-0 victory to have that extra cushion. I think the Portuguese are up it.
As for Russia, I believe they will manage to overcome Slovenia despite playing away in the second leg. But it will be a close call because Slovenia are now capable of competing with the bigger boys in Europe.
So the four playoff teams going to the World Cup finals are: France, Portugal, Russia and Ukraine.