John Egan on Ireland's big test against France and Kylian Mbappé

JOHN Egan believes that Monday’s Euro 2024 qualifier against France is the ‘biggest test’ that this group of Irish players will have faced to date.

This will be a Les Bleus that just lost the World Cup final to Argentina and they have a squad that includes superstars Antoine Griezmann, Mbappé, and Kingsley Coman.

The defender knows the calibre of opposition well, and he wants to leave everything on the pitch on Monday night.

“I treat every international as big (but) in terms of atmosphere-wise, there is a huge buzz around the place for this game considering the calibre of opposition that we are playing,” Egan said.

“I suppose for us to be playing the beaten World Cup finalists on penalties, there are not many sides around that have proven to be better.

“We’re Irish, want to test ourselves against the best and we’re playing at home in front of our fans.

“We’ve all seen big nights in the past in Dublin and we want to go out there, give 100% and get a positive result.

“Monday night is probably the biggest test we’ve faced so far as a group but we have full belief in ourselves. This is the start of our campaign, so doing so with a win would give us huge confidence.

“We’ve played really well against the bigger nations and we want to go and take that next step and get the win." 

FAR FROM ROUTINE

Ireland will go into the game on the back of last week’s 3-2 victory over Latvia at the AVIVA Stadium. What was supposed to be a routine night for Stephen Kenny and his team, was undone at the end of the first half when the team blew a two-goal lead.

Egan came on after the break with Chiedozie Ogbene and Mikey Johnston, who marked his first appearance in green with deep run into the box and a shot that came off the posts. After a defender miscontrolled the ball from this, Ogbene swooped in and scored.

The game finished with a sigh of relief instead of a moment of celebration, but that was quickly forgotten given the size of the opposition coming to Dublin on Monday.

One player in the France team that Egan has experience of playing against is striker Oliver Giroud.

“I played against him when he was at Chelsea,” Egan said. 

He's a good player; a big strong man who has scored a lot of goals for France. His record speaks for itself.”  

 Like the team, who played in the last two World Cup finals and scored 16 goals last winter in Qatar.

“Everyone knows France,” he explained. “I watched them at the World Cup and they’ve had so many games that they're not hiding anything. We know the type of team they are and the threats they pose.”  

 One thing Ireland have in their locker for Monday is the highest-scoring teenager in the Premier League this season, Evan Ferguson, and he is expected to feature after scoring his first senior goal against Lativa.

“He’s a really good striker, a brilliant number nine who is really strong and quick with good feet,” Egan described Ferguson.

“I know he has got a top attitude as well, wants to improve and get better all the time, which is the main thing."