World Cup Qualifier betting - Republic of Ireland vs France

The Republic of Ireland will host France tonight in the first leg of the play-off for a place in next year`s World Cup in South Africa. It is a vital clash for both sides. Ireland have only qualified for three World Cups in their history and after missing the last one will be desperate to make it through this year, while France have qualified for six of the last eight and reached the final last time and failure to qualify would be a disaster.

The visitors are favourites for tonight`s game at 6/4 (bet $40 to win $60 profit), leaving Ireland as underdogs at 21/10. Ireland can take heart, however, that they held Italy twice in the group stages and are unbeaten so far in the competition. France have won their last two games, against Austria and the Faroe Islands, but would have liked more out of their three previous matches which saw them draw with Serbia and Romania and only just beat the Faroe Islands 1-0.

The bookmakers  believe the match will be close, and a 1-1 draw has been made the most likely result at 6/1. Next most likely is 1-0 to France at 13/2, the same price as a goalless draw. 1-0 to the Republic of Ireland, a fine result, is 15/2. 2-1 to Les Bleus is 17/2 and 2-0 is 11/1.

Twenty-one ear-old Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema is favourite to open the scoring tonight at 6/1, along with Chelsea forward Nicholas Anelka. Tottenham and Ireland captain Robbie Keane is the hosts` best chance of scoring first tonight, priced at 7/1. Keane is Ireland`s top scorer with forty international goals, and at the same price as him is France`s top scorer, former Arsenal legend Thierry Henry.

France are 7/2 to be winning at both half-time and full-time and 5/1 to win after drawing at half-time. Both halves to be drawn is priced at 4/1. Ireland/Ireland is 9/2 and the hosts to win after falling behind at the interval is an unlikely 40/1.

Neither side are among the favourites for the World Cup next year but in France`s case this is clearly because they have not qualified and is not based on the strength of their squad, which is formidable. They are at 25/1, a long way ahead of Ireland who are not given much hope at 250/1.

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