Having the world champions around to kick a bit of ball is always an attractive prospect, but quite why Northern Ireland manager Lawrie McMenemy reckons this evening's match against France in Windsor Park is likely to boost confidence levels within his battered senior squad is far from clear.

McMenemy said yesterday that he sees the subjugation of players like Marcel Desailly, Laurent Blanc and Lilian Thuram as the ideal way for the likes of Kevin Horlock, Jon McCarthy and the indefatigable Iain Dowie to regain their forward drive ahead of next month's European qualifiers against Germany and Turkey.

A win, to add to the victory in Dublin back in June, would certainly lift spirits, but if scoring another morale booster was the main purpose of slotting a friendly into the free date in the international calendar then it's hard not to come to the conclusion that Lawrie might have let his finger run a little farther down the world ranking list when it came to choosing the opposition.

French manager Roger Lemerre is missing several of the key figures from his team's memorable defeat of Brazil at the Stade de France last July, Chelsea's Didier Deschamps was the latest to be ruled out yesterday by a minor calf strain, but he would still appear to have enough options to ensure a comfortable win this evening.

Northern Ireland's main hope might be the world champions' continued weakness up front where the absence of Nicolas Anelka is likely to hinder their attempt to improve what has been a terribly poor strike rate against weaker teams.

In their last outing, it took a Frank Lebouef penalty a couple of minutes before time to avoid the embarrassment of a scoreless draw against Andorra in Barcelona, while they were not terribly convincing either when beating Armenia 2-0 back in March.

Another goalless game would be a setback for Lemerre who knows his side must improve ahead of next month's trip to Group Four leaders Ukraine. It was the failure to beat the Ukrainians in Paris that has done most to put his team's hopes of qualifying automatically for the European finals in jeopardy and yesterday he was already casting his eye forward to that rather than expressing too much concern about tonight's game.

Foremost in his mind at the moment is the injury sustained by Arsenal's Emmanuel Petit in Saturday's Premiership game against Sunderland. Initial reports suggested that the midfielder would be out for six weeks, but since then the prognosis for the 28-year-old has been steadily improving.

"It's a big problem for the French team when he does not play," said Lemerre after yesterday's training session. "I don't know if he will play against Ukraine, but I hope that he will play because he is such an important player for the French team. He has damaged his knee ligaments, and today they say he might only be out for two to three weeks - which gives him a chance for us."

In Petit's absence, 25-year-old Bordeaux midfielder Johan Micoud is expected to make his senior international debut and there are likely to be one or two players involved over the course of the evening who feel that they have something to play for in terms of Lemerre's plans for the remainder of the qualifying programme.

For McMenemy, the remainder of that process is something of a formality, his team having been unable to produce any sort of decent form in competitive matches since the reasonably solid defeat of Finland last October.

Even though McMenemy talks about the longer term, there is some question about his prolonged involvement with the Northern Ireland side. A win would, therefore, be a personal boost for the manager, while the goal required by Dowie to end his compelling, and potentially endless, campaign to equal Colin Clarke's international goal-scoring record would possibly allow him to retire from the scene gracefully.

Another good performance from Watford defender Mark Williams would also make the night worthwhile, although the extent to which McMenemy was yesterday talking up the 28-year-old centre-half probably says as much about the manager as it does about his team's current position on the international stage.

Northern Ireland (probable): Taylor; A Hughes, Williams, Morrow, Horlock, McCarthy, Lomas, Lennon, Kennedy, M Hughes, Dowie.

France (possible): Barthez; Thuram, Desailly, Blanc, Lizarazu, Micoud, Vieira, Boghossian, Pires, Wiltord, Laslandes/Vairelles.