A few years back, when my daughter was maybe three, she did one of those things which, before you have kids, you swear your little darling will never do. I can't even remember what it was. Bit her brother, maybe? Hit him? Whatever it was, it was something which caused pain to her brother, and something she knew she shouldn't have done.

If you're only going to have 5 players play well, make sure they include at least three defenders and the goalkeeper. I'm writing in a vacuum I did have the Setanta commentator who rightly pointed out how poor France were, but I have to say that I thought France were shocking.

Good performances: Sagna, Evra, Gallas, Lloris, Anelka
Poor: Henry, A.

First thing: If you're catching the game on delay on Setanta, DON'T read the comments. I broke down and forked over my $19.99 to Setanta to watch the game live, so I will be leaving updates there.

And if you have a working illicit stream, please leave that in the comments as well. It looks like there will be multiple options.

Anybody else feeling edgy?

I'm getting a little tired of reading that this France side aren't "a spot" on the 1998-2000 side. Time for the lads to debunk that nasty sentiment; and a masterclass today would be a good start.

Join Laurie on this site later today (she's never missed a match before, and I wouldn't expect her to start now) for a bit of pre -, during -, and post-match banter (and ranting and raving).

France won the first leg of the World Cup playoff away to Ireland 1-0, but the tie is still up in the air.

France was the better team, but they weren't firing on all cylinders, and as a result, need to get a result in the second leg in Paris.

The formation didn't always hold it's shape, but it was something like this:

Gignac
Henry Gourcuff Anelka
A.

So President Nicolas Sarkozy went on Facebook to wish les Bleus good luck.

Pretty sure that will be all it takes to push them over the top.

GFC over at The Beantown Frog is cautiously optimistic about this leg of the match, predicting a 1-0 win.

From the Guardian:

Ireland defender Richard Dunne said, "You can see the reaction of the people at the tennis (Paris Masters), when they put his (Domenech) face on the big screen. The whole place just booed him and his own players laughed at him."

Extraordinary.

France's do-or-die match against Ireland is just around the corner, with the first match taking place on November 14th in Ireland and the second taking place on the 18th at the Stade de France (boo...). I don't know about you guys, but I'll be praying extra hard that France don't screw up against a tough Irish team.

On paper, this shouldn't even be much of a matchup. France has the players with the big names and the big money.

You know. The ones who get all the press.

Too bad you can't play a match on paper.

Gardiens de but
Shay Given (Manchester City, Ang)
Keiren Westwood (Conventry City, Ang)
Joe Murphy (Scunthorpe United, Ang)

Défenseurs
John O'Shea (Manchester United, Ang)
Richard Dunne (Aston Villa, Ang)
Stephen Kelly (Fulham, Ang)
Kevin Kilbane (Hull City, Ang)
Eddie Nolan (Preston North End, Ang)
Sean St.

It's official. France's playoff opponent is Ireland.

And Raymond Domenech is kissing the boots of UEFA for deciding to seed the draw.

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.

France are finding a bit of form.

And none too soon.

Domenech has pulled a rabbit out of the hat in Gignac.

Gignac put the match to rest with a sumptuous third.

Benzema got the start up front along with ever-presents Thierry Henry and Sidney Govou.

Stalwarts like Toulalan and L.

This is it! The final World Cup qualifier! Are you excited?

Yeah, neither is anybody else. Let's still hope for a good showing.

As Jeff discussed, Serbia's win over Romania means France has no chance to go top of the group. France's win over Faroe Islands means that France is guaranteed the second-place playoffs.

From FIFA:

"Serbia secured qualification in style, with Nikola Zigic, Marko Pantelic, Zdravko Kuzmanovic and Milan Javanovic (2) on target in a 5-0 win over Romania in Group 7."

Ouch.

We were bettered in the group, but we also won 5-0.

Goals from:

Gignac
Gignac
Gallas
Anelka
Benzema

5-0, and it was almost convincing.

LES ÉQUIPES PROBABLES

FRANCE: Mandanda - Sagna, Gallas, Abidal, Evra - Govou, L. Diarra, Toulalan, Henry (cap.) - Anelka, Gignac
ILES FÉROÉ: Mikkelsen - Danielsen, Gregersen, Eliasen, Davidsen - A. Olsen, S. Olsen, Benjaminsen, Loekin - Jakobsen - Hansen

I was willing to bet my house yesterday that we'd be playing two DMs, and guess what?

Could Serbian hooligans solve all our problems?

From Prost Amerika Soccer:

FIFA have already fined the Serb FA $40,000 for incidents in all their previous world cup matches against France, Austria and Romania, and now they have finally lost patience.

Once more, the authorities have stepped in ahead of a match with Romania.