How The Irish Fared

WARY: Raymond Domenech, seen here with Thierry Henry during France's final qualifying group game, is wary of the Irish fans invading Paris, and of the ability of the Boys in Green from set pieces. / Getty Images

With the draw for the World Cup playoffs made last Monday in Switzerland - you’ll know by now that the Boys in Green were drawn to play France, home first on November 14 with the return leg in Paris four days later - the news for the next three weeks is bound to be top-heavy with the subject.

Hot on the heels of the draw came news of an emerging situation between the gaffer, Giovanni Trapattoni, and Steven Reid. The Blackburn player has endured almost a year of injury frustration but is now back raring to go with the Ewood Park club.

The Ireland boss however reportedly believes Reid’s career may be over, due to the absence of cartilage in the player’s knee. This ‘informed speak’ from the manager is said to be due to discussions he’s had with his management team of Marco Tardelli, Liam Brady and Alan Kelly.

Reid meanwhile publicly refuted Trapattoni’s assessment of his health and wishes to inform the world that he is raring to go for club and country if selected.

The story took on a life of its own on Friday when Sam Allerdyce offered his two cents: “I was disappointed by the comments from Giovanni Trapattoni about Steven Reid. It’s disgraceful that a manager of an international side could come out with such drivel and nonsense. He should be making a public apology to Steven Reid and this football club.

“Steven has had some really hard times trying to overcome his injury. To wake up and see that written in the papers by the manager of his country is particularly disappointing. He was completely out of order with what he said,” went the somewhat over the top statement from Big Sam.

Trapattoni’s statement about Reid may be slightly tongue in cheek - one school of thought is that the big man is getting out in front of the flak which is sure to come his way should he opt to pick Keith Andrews and Glenn Whelan ahead of Reid on November 14 .

Either way, it would appear that the Italian has been badly misinformed on Reid’s health - a stick which the critics will surely use to beat him with should Ireland fail to qualify for the World Cup.

Another point of contention for his detractors will be his ongoing quest to persuade Stephen Ireland to return. Hard to believe as it is, Trap was as late as this past weekend, according to reports in a leading football website, once again pushing Ireland to rejoin his team in time for the playoff games against France.

“If a player does not want to play for his country, there is nothing I can do,” Trapattoni said.

“I believe he will regret this decision when he is older because there is a chance he could have helped his country to make the World Cup finals.

“I have had conversations with him, but he says he is happy not to play. My door is always open to him and some of the best champions of the past have enjoyed successful comebacks. He can be like them if he wishes.”

Such time and effort expended on a player who has shown time and again he does not want to play for Ireland! And by such a move it appears that the manager believes he needs more creativity than he currently has in his midfield - why not then opt for the next best thing in Andy Reid?

In the final analysis - does the Irish manager believe that the return of Manchester City’s prodigal son would be welcomed in all corners of the Irish squad? Perhaps he doesn’t - perhaps it’s just another of the many smoke screens which appear to be billowing up around the former Juventus boss.

But, if Trapattoni takes Ireland to South Africa, against major odds, no one will care about his personnel choices.

And helping him in that regard this week, was the news that Franck Ribery is likely to miss the big double-header in Dublin and Paris.

Bayern Munich could be without Ribery for more than a month, it is reported, and France assistant coach Alain Boghossian has already accepted that he will not have the player for the qualifying play-off against Ireland.

“For me, Franck is practically out of the play-off,” he said.

Ribery is still struggling with an injury to his patella which has ruled him out for much of the season. He missed Bayern's 2-1 defeat to Bordeaux on Wednesday night and the German club's coach Louis van Gaal later revealed that he does not expect to have him back for at least another month.

Mick McCarthy admitted this week that he tried to sign Richard Dunne during the summer.

The Republic of Ireland defender, whom McCarthy believes is among the best stoppers in the English top flight, has been a big hit at Aston Villa since leaving Man City in August.

And Wolves boss McCarthy, who used to manage the Republic of Ireland, has always rated the centre-back highly after handing him his international debut in 2000.

“Dunne really is a terrific player,” said McCarthy, whose side tangled with Mart