All knack, no luck? Republic of Ireland brace themselves for Mbappé

If it wasn’t for bad luck, you suspect Stephen Kenny wouldn’t have any luck at all. Installed as Mick McCarthy’s successor in April 2020, the Republic of Ireland manager seems to have spent much of the intervening three years walking under ladders and across the path of black cats, spotting lone magpies, spilling salt, smashing mirrors and opening umbrellas indoors.

Appointed a couple of months after the pandemic started taking its toll in Ireland, Kenny’s efforts to get to know his squad and impart his methods were hamstrung at every turn. So much so that after a year on the job he’d had only 36 full days with his players, overseeing 11 games in eight different cities with a group routinely decimated by the virus. One of the earlier matches was a Euro 2020 play-off semi-final against Slovakia, which Ireland lost on penalties, ensuring his reign started badly before going quickly downhill and over a cliff Wile E Coyote style. A 1-0 home defeat to Luxembourg put paid to any chance they had of qualifying for the last World Cup.

With the pandemic over, results gradually improving and an impoverished Football Association of Ireland unable to afford a more expensive option, Kenny signed a contract extension that is due to take him through to Euro 2024. He could have been forgiven for hoping for a kind draw in the qualifiers for that particular competition but the fabled luck of the Irish once again deserted him as his team were slung into a group of death with France, the Netherlands and Greece. Already on the back foot with just three points from their opening three games, Ireland face back-to-back games with France in Paris and the Netherlands at home; tough assignments at the best of times but bordering on the kind of impossible missions even Ethan Hunt would choose not to accept, given the number of players – and particularly strikers – the Dubliner is missing through knack.

Foremost among them is the teenage Brighton striker Evan Ferguson, who ought to have been going into this international break full of confidence after his first Premier League hat-trick, but has been forced out with a dodgy knee. He is one of seven Irish players sidelined, while the Sheffield United defender John Egan will be asked to repel the combined forces of Kylian Mbappé, Antoine Griezmann and Olivier Giroud despite playing on one leg.

Banished to the Parc des Princes for tonight’s game because their usual home is being gussied up for tomorrow night’s Rugby World Cup opener, it seems France have little to fear except the kind of complacency that may have led their manager, Didier Deschamps, to mistake Ferguson for a Crystal Palace player in his pre-match press conference. If France play badly and the Irish wingers Ryan Manning and Festy Ebosele can channel their inner Michael Olise and Eberechi Eze, Ireland could be in with a fighting chance.

Join Will Unwin for piping hot Euro 2024 qualifying liveblogging including France 3-0 Republic of Ireland, Slovenia 2-1 Norn Iron, while he’ll also take in the less important (international friendly) matter of Wales 2-2 South Korea.

“It’s wild. I tell people I am a full-time worker and a part-time footballer. A lot of us have to take unpaid leave to play matches. But come game day you would never say we are not full-time players” – Kaylin Swart, who made 14 saves at the World Cup, talks to Firdose Moonda about balancing playing for South Africa and her other job as a sports coach and administration assistant at a school.

“Jon Pidgeon writes about goal line technology [Wednesday’s FD]. I refer to Aston Villa v Sheffield United, 17th June 2020. The final score was 0-0 but United scored just before half time. Norwood’s free kick went over the line courtesy of their goalie. No goal given. Had that goal stood and been the final score, all other things being equal then Villa would have been relegated” – Peter Caldwell.

“As someone who has carried his fair share of binders in my life as a corporate drone, I was interested in the power dynamics of [Wednesday’s] Memory Lane picture. Des Lynam has taken three as is his prerogative as a senior member of the group who still wants to show he’s pulling his weight. Norman Cook has four, reflective, perhaps, of his younger age. Tim Carder has the satisfied look of someone who got in early and helped himself to the smallest acceptable pile of three. Lord Bassam apparently walked past the stack, deciding that carrying binders was for other people; leaving poor Paul Samrah clearly struggling with a frankly unfair five files. Have I spent far too long looking at, and writing about, this picture? Yes. Has Paul Samrah forgotten about this injustice? I’m guessing not” – Ben Mimmack.

“Re the ongoing criticism of footballers (Jordan Henderson among others) going to Saudi to ply their trade. Every single day, corporations in the West do business dealings with counterparts in Qatar, Saudi and other countries. On that topic you hear nothing, or very little. Surely it’s as morally corrupt selling cars, tech, fashion et al to these countries, as it is for someone in sports to pick up a paycheck from the same region? By all means, go after Henderson and others, which is not more than right. But it would be refreshing if the bigger picture was highlighted more often, the finger-pointing at individuals is becoming tedious. The journalism is a bit lazy, to say the least” – Magnus Nell.

“Allow me to be one of the 1,057 to point out that as a native New Yorker, Groucho Marx never used the word ‘quid’ in his life, except perhaps as part of ‘quid pro quo’. And the actual quote in question is ‘These are my principles, and if you don’t like them... well, I have others’’” – Joe Pearson.

Send your letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’ the day is … Ben Mimmack.

The Football Weekly Book is out and you can order your copy (with a discount) right here.

There’s a live event on 26 September to mark the Football Weekly Book launch. More details and tickets are here. And then the pod goes on tour again in November: several dates are now sold out, but there are a few tickets still available elsewhere.

Another Fifa faux-pas? Gianni Infantino has congratulated Malian FA chief suit Malatou Touré on his reelection as the federation’s president while facing a court indictment for embezzlement of public funds. Sending Touré his “warmest greetings”, the Fifa president thanked him for “all your efforts, your work and your important contribution to the development of our sport”. A Fifa spokesperson later blethered that these were just standard formalities of the sort sent to all successful candidates, adding: “Fifa has a zero-tolerance policy towards any financial wrongdoing in football, and will continue to monitor the situation.”

The Hollywood actor Natalie Portman, who also owns the NWSL club Angel City in the US, has praised the “resilience” of Spain’s players throughout the Luis Rubiales saga. “I wish the players could just focus on the sport. Unfortunately they have had to be political inherently, as we have seen at the last two World Cups,” she lamented. Jenni Hermoso, meanwhile, has filed a criminal complaint about Rubiales’ unsolicited kiss after the World Cup final.

In Women’s Big Cup last night, Arsenal cruised into the second qualifying round with a 3-0 win over Linköping, with Caitlin Foord, Lina Hurtig and Stina Blackstenius on target. Arsenal face Paris FC next on Saturday.

It’s Pointless Argument Time again, with Fifa releasing its Ballon d’Or shortlist. Aitana Bonmatí and Lionel Messi head the women’s and men’s lists respectively. Among other nominees are Jude Bellingham, Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappé, Mary Earps, Linda Caicedo and Sam Kerr. The full list is here.

European clubs want assurances from Saudi Arabia that they will be paid in full the astronomical transfer fees agreed with clubs from the Kingdom this summer. Concerns are understood to have been raised in private at the European Club Association this week, with clubs seeking assurances they have leverage over their Saudi counterparts if debts are not honoured.

Also at the European big clubs shindig, Manchester City’s chief suit Ferran Soriano was elected to the ECA’s board.

Max Rushden muses over Howard Webb’s latest brainchild, TV tell-all Match Officials Mic’d Up, and explains why VAR will never please everyone for all the positive PR.

Lewis Dunk spoke to David Hytner about the ‘big change in mentality’ he’s spotted in the England camp this week after five years away from Gareth Southgate’s squad.

Nicky Bandini assesses Christian Pulisic’s happy start to life in Milan and the history of Serie A’s relationship with players from the USA! USA!! USA!!!

And Grimsby Town owner Jason Stockwood’s latest column is a deeply personal one about the death of his mother and how football gave him the chance to reconcile with her.

A flat-capped Eric Djemba-Djemba poses with a Topps sticker album after being unveiled as St Mirren’s latest recruit in February 2014 on a short-term deal. Buddies boss Danny Lennon proclaimed the former Manchester United man as the club’s “biggest ever signing”. He left three months later after three appearances, at which point Lennon was also let go.