Republic of Ireland v Andorra
Football : Euro 2012 Qualifier
Tuesday 7 September 2010 - Kickoff 7:45pm

This game is live on TV

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Republic of Ireland

The Republic of Ireland got their qualifying campaign off to the perfect start after picking up a 0-1 win in Armenia, a win they deserved fully. Giovanni Trappotoni would have been expecting 6 points from their opening 2 games in a tough looking group, and they have a chance to get themselves into a good position in the group before the visit of Russia next month.

The brand new Aviva Stadium (formerly Lansdowne Road) is the venue for the Republic's home games after they previously were using Croke Park while redevelopments took place. Ireland opened their new home with a 0-1 loss to Argentina and will want to improve their fortunes at home where they were let down in their last qualifying campaign. They managed 2 wins and 3 draws in their group, and also lost to France at Croke Park in the Play Off round. Add to the fact they won just half of the games at home in the qualifying group for Euro 2008, and it is clear they need to get more results at home.

Shay Given was forced to sit out the latter part of training yesterday but is expected to be fit. Kevin Fahey who scored the winner in Armenia is pushing for a starting spot in the team but it is likely the same 11 from Friday will begin here.

Possible Republic of Ireland Line Up: Given, O'Shea, Dunne, St. Ledger, Kilbane, Lawrence, Whelan, Green, McGeady, Keane and Doyle (4-4-2)

Andorra

Andorra are ranked so low in the World Rankings by Fifa that only 6 teams are lower than them in the World and only San Marino are ranked lower in Europe. While the clich suggests there are 'no easy games in international football', I would look at it in the manner that this is a game that teams will be looking to win... I am sure if San Marino ever played Andorra, that they would fancy their chances too!! However, they were not disgraced on Friday night when losing 0-2 to Russia at home.

Suffice to say, Andorra have failed to qualify for any of the tournaments they have attempted and have only won 3 of the 89 matches they have taken part in. They have lost 77 of those games and concede an average of 2.84 goals per game. Last time out, Andorra played in the same group as England, losing all of their away games, conceding 23 goals in their 5 games and only scoring 1 goal.

I have no team news for this nation.

Head to Head

These 2 nations met in the qualifiers for the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea. Ireland won both games, unsurprisingly, winning 3-1 here in Dublin and 0-3 in Andorra.

Prediction

Ireland will look to pick up another 3 points before the crucial double header next month when they entertain Russia and then visit Slovakia days later. They will also know they have a chance to get a bit of a step on their rivals who will play each other tomorrow night in Russia.

The Boys in Green also have a couple of strikers who can really get amongst the goals tomorrow against a side that is much more difficult to play when they are the home side. As you can imagine, there are not too many bookmakers who have priced up the handicaps so I had a quick look at other bets and have favoured the total goals market at Victor Chandler.

The firm are offering 1.91 for there to be a total of between 4 and 6 goals in the match which I will take. Andorra conceded 3 in Kazakhstan in their last qualifying group, while Belarus managed 5 so I would expect Ireland to get to this total in a win to nil

The Statistics :

The Pick :

Republic of Ireland 4-0 Andorra

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

Take Total Goals 4-6 at 1.91 (Victor Chandler)