Paris  - France take on Ireland in the return leg of their World Cup play-off Wednesday knowing a place at next year's finals in South Africa is theirs to lose after winning the opening encounter in Dublin at the weekend.

Nicolas Anelka's deflected goal was enough to secure a 1-0 victory at Croke Park Saturday but team captain Thierry Henry remains wary of his Irish opponents.

"It is only an advantage. It is a better way to come back and play the game in Paris. But still the Irish team is a very difficult team to beat," said the Barcelona striker.

"They have not lost a game in their qualification campaign, so what we did in Dublin is nice, but there are still 90 minutes to go in Paris."

Despite the loss, Irish boss Giovanni Trapattoni says he sees no reason to make changes for the second leg.

"All the players played well. I don't have in my mind to change anything," said the 70-year-old Italian.

"It is 50/50. It is only halfway. Anything can happen. I have seen in my time in Italy, in my time here with Ireland, many surprise results," he said.

Ireland captain Robbie Keane was also upbeat, and called on his team-mates to remain confident about progressing at the expense of the 2006 World Cup finalists.

"After the game we said we have to believe that we can go there to win the game. There is no question that we can do that," said the Tottenham Hotspur striker.

"We have been to many places and played big teams and got results. By no means it will be easy, we know that but it is certainly possible.

"We were going to have to score anyway in the game so we will have to try and score, even two goals."

Although he most likely won't be making many changes in personnel, Trapattoni said he was aware that he will certainly have to take more chances than he did in the opening encounter.

"We can score on Wednesday. If we play offensively, we can score a goal," he said.

"Start with a little deflection, 1-0 to us. Why not?"

France coach Raymond Domenech agreed with his counterpart about the tie not yet being over, saying the objective of qualification for South Africa had not yet been reached by France.

"There are 180 minutes. Ninety to go. The Irish played very well and are very much able to react so we must be vigilant," he said. (dpa)