Andrews planning for Haaland/Mbappé conundrum

Republic of Ireland assistant coach Keith Andrews woke up on Sunday morning thinking of ways to stop a world class striker in Erling Haaland, but a few hours later he was splitting those concerns with another footballing superstar, France's Kylian Mbappé.

Haaland will be up first on 17 November as Norway visit for an international friendly where Ireland will attempt to shut down a player who has scored 15 goals in just nine Premier League appearances this season.

Sunday’s Euro 2024 draw then pitted Stephen Kenny’s side against France and the Netherlands, meaning two clashes [27 March, 2023 and 7 September, 2023] with Ligue 1’s top scorer for the last four seasons.

"This time yesterday I woke up thinking of Haaland and this morning I woke up thinking of Mbappe," Andrews told 2FM’s Game On when reflecting on the side’s nightmare Euro 2024 draw.

"The draw, there’s no two ways of looking at it, it could have been kinder.

"When you’re looking at the draw live and see the pots and you think 'B, C, try and avoid those two’, especially with France being dropped into pot two - they were always a team that nobody really wanted with the type of players that they have.

"It’s still fresh, [we’re] doing our due diligence, having chats today and having a couple of Zooms chatting through logistics.

"It’s obviously going to be a challenge that we’ll have to face head on, one that we’ll look forward to planning. It’s going to be a very difficult task, no doubt about it with the level of opposition."

While many Irish fans are already looking at a possible third-placed finish and play-off route as the best chance of qualification, Andrews surmised that the players themselves would have genuine belief that they could shock France or the Netherlands.