Tonight is a night of destiny for Carla Ward and her Irish team, as they prepare for their crunch World Cup 2027 qualifying match against France tonight at the Stade des Alpes in Grenoble. Ireland come into tonight’s fixture with a real chance of securing a berth in next year’s Women’s World Cup finals in Brazil, entering the fixture just a point behind Laurent Bonadei’s side, who won their last match by two goals to nil away at Poland on Friday evening last. Ireland are on 9 points after 5 fixtures in Group 2 of League A of UEFA’s qualification process to next year’s World Cup, and there is one certainty of tonight’s match, if there is a winner, they will qualify for next year’s tournament without having to end up in the playoffs.
If France win, or the two sides draw, Ireland will be hoping for Poland to do them a favour against the Netherlands; that game kicks off tonight at the same time as the Ireland fixture at 8pm, in order for the Girls in Green to keep their second place spot in the group and potentially have an easier pathway through the playoffs, with the draw for that phase of qualification to be made on the 24th of June; regardless of where Ireland finish, in second or in third, they’re guaranteed to meet a team from League C.
Speaking about her chances of beating the French, Ireland manager Carla Ward said that beating France
would be one of the biggest stories in world football
Adding to that comment, she said that
We’ve already written our own records, and this would be the biggest one, no doubt about it.
Ward has no fresh injury concerns from their monumental victory against the Netherlands last Friday, but they go into tonight’s game with a negative head-to-head record against France, losing 2-1 to them at home in March. Tonight’s fixture is underway from 8pm, with good weather forecast from the first to final whistle, of roughly 24 degrees for the duration of the match.
