Euro 2016 host and favorite France has been a bit of a flop thus far. Les Bleus haven’t been able to play the type of football their world-class talents are clearly capable of. But they have been handed a favorable draw in the round of 16 as they face a Republic of Ireland side that will need a lot of luck on its side to go any further in the tournament.
Read on below for more on this Euro 2016 round of 16 matchup. And for more of Sunday’s Euro action, check out our previews of Germany vs. Slovakia and Hungary vs. Belgium.
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The version of France which many thought would be the favorite to win the tournament has yet to show up at Euro 2016. The host nation put up two largely unconvincing performances in their games against Romania and Albania, which they needed late goals to win, before playing to a safe and boring goalless draw against Switzerland.
Manager Didier Deschamps has chopped and changed his starting XI and formation in search for the best combination, but has seemingly been unable to find it. Despite brief glimpses, stars Paul Pogba and Antoine Griezmann have yet to completely shine.
But even with all the uncertainty surrounding the lineup, there should still be more than enough quality in the French squad to eventually find a way past Ireland. Belgium was a side that was similarly talented but struggling to find the right team combination; Ireland helped them get back on track by crumbling to a heavy 3-0 defeat.
Les Bleus will likely dominate possession and create a lot of scoring chances, which, at some point, they have to start finishing. Dimitri Payet, who has been France’s best player thus far, will do most of the creating, while Olivier Giroud in particular will be expected to finally get off the mark in the tournament.
Expanded format or no, the Republic of Ireland should be quite proud of its achievement of reaching the knockout stages of Euro 2016. They deserved to win (but could only draw) against Sweden, and they recovered from a 3-0 hammering against Belgium to beat Italy and seal qualification.
However, this could very well be the end of the road for the team’s tournament run. They just haven’t shown the attacking quality to hang with the best teams. They defeated the Italians, but needed 85 long minutes to break down a second-string team with nothing to play for.
Just about the best thing the Irish can hope for is to avoid another Belgium-like beatdown, and they are definitely be capable of doing that against France. Les Bleus have yet to completely hit full gear in the tournament, and with the Irish likely to play with a cautious, defensive gameplan, the French could have another difficult time breaking their opponents down.
Ireland has successfully held France to a single goal or fewer in their last five international meetings.
Writer’s Prediction
The total goes under 2.0 goals as France escapes with another narrow 1-0 win.
