France to taste Irish cream in WC playoffs

France must get past Ireland to reach the 2010 World Cup finals after they were drawn together on Monday for next month's two-legged European playoffs.

Updated on: Oct 19, 2009, 23:10:12 IST

Reuters | By HT Correspondent, London

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France must get past Ireland to reach the 2010 World Cup finals after they were drawn together on Monday for next month's two-legged European playoffs.

Portugal, who scraped into the playoffs by winning their last three Group One fixtures to seal runners-up spot, face Bosnia, Euro 2004 champions Greece tackle Ukraine and Russia will play Slovenia.

Bosnia, runners-up to Spain in their qualifying group, are attempting to reach their first major finals while Slovenia are looking to repeat their feat of reaching Euro 2000.

France, the 1998 world champions, 2000 European champions and beaten World Cup finalists in 2006, will have the advantage of playing the second leg on home soil against an Ireland side coached by Giovanni Trapattoni.

While France will be favourites, pressure will be on coach Raymond Domenech who came underfire during the qualifiying tournament.

The first legs take place on November 14 with the returns on November 18.

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