by Martin Spinks
martin.spinks@thesentinel.co.uk

GLENN Whelan is delighted to be cast in the role of underdog after Ireland drew France in next month’s World Cup play-offs.

Ireland, whose squad is certain to include Whelan and Stoke team-mate Liam Lawrence, entertain the misfiring French in Dublin on November 14, before travelling to Paris for the second leg four days later.

The winners will join England, Argentina, Brazil and company at next summer’s finals in South Africa.

Whelan said: “The draw is not too bad. It’s obviously going to be a tough game for us, but travelling-wise, it is a good draw for us.

“France have a lot of quality players, but at the minute they haven’t been firing on all cylinders, so it’s probably a good time to play them.

“They will still be going into the game as favourites, though, and we will be the underdogs.

“However, I think we are better as underdogs than favourites and all the pressure is on them, so, hopefully, we can cause an upset.”

France finished a comfortable second behind Serbia in their qualifying group after their ageing side, which includes the likes of William Gallas and Thierry Henry, struggled to reproduce the form which saw them reach the 2006 finals in Germany.

Controversial coach Raymond Domenech appears to have split opinion in France, between those who want him sacked and those who want him sacked and ex-communicated.

Ireland ran Italy close in their qualifying group, meanwhile, before a 2-2 draw between the pair in Dublin left Whelan and company finishing runners-up to the current World Cup holders.

Midfielder Whelan said: “We won’t be fazed against France, because we’ve played some tough games already in our group.

“And coming off a good performance against Italy, we will have a lot of confidence going into the France game.”

Whelan, who netted a brilliant free-kick during the Italy tie, is hoping the proximity of Paris will play into Ireland’s favour in the second leg.

The Irish could have drawn Russia, Portugal or Greece instead of France after yesterday’s draw was controversially seeded by FIFA at the last minute.

And Whelan said: “Russia would have been a tough one because of the distance and the conditions at that time of year.

“But France is good for travelling and hopefully we’ll have plenty of fans going over from Ireland for the second leg.”

The rest of the play-off draw saw Bosnia draw Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal, Ukraine paired with Greece and Slovenia pitched against the Russians.