FRENCH PRESS:THEIR TEAM'S win in Dublin was greeted with relief in the French press yesterday, with praise being heaped on a team whose chances of taking a win in Dublin were doubted by many commentators before the match.

"We're convinced!" screamed the front page headline in Le Parisien. "The most difficult is done," declared sports daily L'Equipe, underlining the importance of France's away goal.

“The Irish promised the French it would be hell,” the paper’s Cédric Rougette wrote, but that’s not how it turned out, and on Saturday night France took a major step towards qualification for the World Cup.”

Comparing the victory to France’s crucial win in Dublin during the qualifiers for the 2006 World Cup in Germany, Rougette remarked: “That win in 2005 was decisive in qualifying for Germany. The goal scored by [Thierry] Henry that day became legendary in its perfection. Anelka’s, assisted by the unfortunate St Ledger, will be more forgettable. But its value is the same.”

According to Libération, France had taken "un bol d'Eire", playing on the French term for a breath of fresh air. Now they could rest a little easier in the run-up to Wednesday's return leg. "The relief was palpable, and South Africa has suddenly became closer," one of their journalists wrote.

In Le Parisien, Saturday's win was portrayed as virtually assuring France of qualification. Under the headline "Les Bleus take a big step towards South Africa", the paper said all that remained was "to stamp our ticket" for the journey.

In the pages of L'Equipe, former France midfielder Emmanuel Petit said the away team had been in command of the match for the most part. They played solidly, held up to the physical duel and got "an ideal result." Apart from some stray passing – he identified lapses in concentration from Diarra and Abidal in particular – the team defended well, and Petit reserved special praise for goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, whom some had questioned last week after he conceded five goals in Lyon's 5-5 draw with Marseille, and for Nicolas Anelka.

“At Croke Park, the Chelsea striker really played an enormous match,” he wrote.

In Petit’s view, France may have turned a corner after finding their form in the last few matches of their qualifying group.

Looking towards the second leg, he wrote: “We must absolutely not approach Wednesday’s match by saying to ourselves we won 1-0 in Ireland. These two confrontations are like a match. There are two halves and we have only won one of them. At the Stade de France, our opponents tend to outperform themselves, so we must be extremely alert . . . We must play this match with the intention of winning again.”