Tonight, France will face Ireland at home in a Group B matchup. Despite its extraordinary strength, France is overly reliant on the fast counter-attacks led by Kilian McBarbee, and if it comes up against a defensive team, it is feared that it will struggle like a rat pulling a tortoise. In addition, France has a clear lead in Group B, so it is unlikely that they will rush to the attack. With Ireland's strong defense, and the fact that they haven't played much in recent years, 2.5 goals seems like a safe bet. (Friday 2.45am kick-off)
France won the first four rounds without conceding a goal, and performed well in both offense and defense. However, with the exception of the first round victory over the Netherlands, the remaining three matches were mediocre, mainly due to the fact that France's key weapon, captain Kilian McBarbee's fast counter-attacks, encountered fully contracted opponents in these three matches, resulting in a lack of room for France to maneuver. Positional attack is not France's specialty, so the victory was relatively hard to come by, and against a weak team like Gibraltar, it was only a 3-0 win, so it is not appropriate to be overly optimistic.
Meanwhile, Ireland have won one and lost two of their first three rounds, with players such as rising star Ewan Ferguson in strong form. However, the attacking power of the Brighton Arrows players was damaged as they were injured and withdrew from the team before the match. Facing a strong team, Ireland will not attack easily, but will strengthen the defense to ensure stability, and then seek opportunities for counterattack.
