Fans can watch the Republic of Ireland vs. France football match live online and see which team can play through to the Round of Eight in the 2016 UEFA European Championships.
The teams will meet in Lyon on Sunday with a berth in the quarterfinals at stake. The match will be broadcast at 9 a.m. ET on ESPN and ESPN Deportes, and will also be available online for fans who can’t make it to a television — a link to streaming video can be found below.
As ESPNFC noted, France has done enough to advance in the tournament, but has looked not very much like a title contender. Les Bleus notched a 2-1 opening win over Romania and followed it up with a 2-0 win over Albania, but ended the group stage with a scoreless draw against Switzerland that didn’t inspire much confidence.
The report noted that France comes into Sunday’s match against the Republic of Ireland as the favorite, but still have a lot of issues to address.
“After the three Group A matches, the French are faced with more questions than answers. A defense that looked like a weakness pre-tournament has been surprisingly solid but the midfield and attack — two areas where France were expected to impress — have caused concern. Deschamps does not appear to know his strongest XI and that is a major worry moving into the knockout rounds. The 47-year-old must make some bold decisions ahead of the Republic of Ireland clash in Lyon if the hosts are to progress.”
But fans who watch the Republic of Ireland vs. France football match live online could see a motivated and somewhat slighted Irish squad. Ireland manager Martin O’Neill criticized the ticket distribution for the match, with Ireland being allocated only 4,500 tickets for the 59,000 capacity stadium. The Irish team appealed to UEFA for a larger allotment, but were given only 106 more tickets, the Guardian reported.
Republic of Ireland unhappy with France’s Euro 2016 advantages https://t.co/FZ2gJp8SRb via @guardian_sport
— The Guardian (@guardian) June 25, 2016
That, combined with the fact that France has three extra days of rest heading into the contest, has the Irish squad fuming.
“It is totally disproportionate and not only because it is us – any side should have a certain allocation set aside for making it here,” O’Neill said. “France have had that opportunity, having advanced three days before us, so it is going to be seriously one-sided.”
O’Neill added that his team has been limited in their preparations for the match, with a short turnaround from the last match, and as a result he has been preaching to his players to remain focused.
“The most important thing for players who played at that level of performance, the intensity they played at for 90 minutes, it is going to take its toll,” he said. “Those players have done very little since. Rest is the most important thing for us and we’ll go through a couple of video things in the lead-up to the game because, outside of that, no one will be doing that much.”
There is also something of a bitter history between the two teams. They met in the 2009 World Cup playoffs, with France winning after officials missed Thierry Henry’s handball that ended up setting up the winning goal from William Gallas.
For his part, French coach Didier Deschamps said his team isn’t thinking too much about the history, just staying focused on winning on Sunday.
“There is no revenge in football. It was six years ago and the only thing we can change is what happens tomorrow. I don’t think this feeling exists in top-level football unless you play the same team three days later. I don’t think it will have any influence whatsoever.”
Fans who want to watch the Republic of Ireland vs. France football game live online can click here for streaming video of the 2016 UEFA European Championships.
[Photo by Darko Vojinovic/AP Images]