Republic of Ireland v Argentina
Football : International Friendly
Wednesday 11 August 2010 - Kickoff 7:45pm

The match is live on TV

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Republic of Ireland

The Republic of Ireland may have gained a little satisfaction after seeing France humiliate themselves in front of the watching World with squad dissention and an early World Cup exit to follow. Many in Ireland will still have been aggrieved in the manner the French knocked them out of the World Cup Play Offs last November, but now they have the Euro 2012 qualifiers to look forward to.

Giovanni Trapattoni was taken ill after eating some seafood in Italy and he will not be on the bench for the match although is, thankfully, in stable condition. They will feel they have a good opportunity to Qualify for Euro 2012 with their main threats being Russia and Slovakia. Ireland lost 3 of their last 10 matches over the course of 12 months, although only 1 of these was a competitive fixture. The Irish have won their last 2 friendly games at home although they were humbled 0-3 by Australia on this international date 1 year ago.

The Irish have already picked their team for this fixture, but there are some injury concerns which may affect that. Kevin Doyle and Richard Dunne are both doubts while Aiden McGeady, Shane Long, Caleb Folan and Marc Wilson are all missing.

Republic of Ireland Line Up :
Given, McShane, Dunne, O'Shea, Kilbane, Lawrence, Andrews, Green, Duff, Keane and Doyle.

Argentina

Argentina had a disappointing end to their World Cup campaign when they were humbled by a young German side 4-0 in the Quarter Finals. Since then, there has been some major upheaval as Diego Maradona resigned his position as manager of the team after he was told to cut members of his backroom staff. Sergio Batista has been given the caretaker manager role and will be in charge here.

The Albiceleste were feeling confident of a strong World Cup as they progressed through the Quarter Finals without too many issues after having a real struggle to just qualify for the tournament. The side have played 17 games over the last 12 months and lost just 4 of them. Argentina's record in recent friendly games has been more than impressive with 8 wins from their 9 games in the last year, including wins in Russia and Germany.

There has been a strong squad that has arrived in Dublin for this friendly, although Carlos Tevez is just joining his teammates and will not be taking part. There has not been an overhaul of the squad that travelled to the World Cup with a couple of additions being made to this squad.

Possible Argentina Line Up :
Romero, Zabaleta, Samuel, Demichelis, Heinze, Mascherano, Gago, Di Maria, Messi, Aguero and Higuain.

Head to Head

The Republic of Ireland have met Argentina 3 times previously and it is the Argentines who have come out on top each time.

The last time these 2 played was in 1998, a friendly game in Dublin that Argentina won 0-2.

Prediction

The Republic of Ireland have some injury concerns and the loss of Richard Dunne would be huge in terms of experience that he offers. This is a chance for the Irish to gain a good result at their new stadium although it will be a mighty task without the influence of Trapattoni around the camp.

Argentina will be vastly disappointed with the manner of their exit from the World Cup as Maradona's tactical failings were exposed. The manager has since been removed from his post and this is a period of calm as a successor is searched for. However, the squad is teeming with talent and it will be interesting to see if Batista can get the best out of them.

I think this is a game that Argentina could win. They have performed well in friendly games over the last year and the players available to them are far superior than their Irish counterparts.

Ireland will always make life difficult for their opponents, especially in front of their own fans, but I think they will struggle to keep Argentina from scoring, especially more so if Richard Dunne is ruled out tomorrow.

The Pick :

Republic of Ireland 0-2 Argentina

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

Argentina WIN

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