In other news, FAI Chief Executive Fran Rooney has stated that as Ireland are holding the EU Presidency in 2004, the 2006 World Cup European qualifying fixtures meeting should be held in Dublin, and it seems that he received a favourable reaction amongst the other nations' delegates. The official fixtures plan will be drawn up next February following the meeting.
Hughton this evening told the PA that 'from a fan’s point of view the moment I realised France were going to be placed in our group my heart sank a little because it makes it difficult for us to qualify.'
'However, with my coaching head on, the prospect of facing arguably the best team in the world is very exciting.'
'I know that if I was a player I would be very excited by the draw because you always want to put yourself up against the best players in the world. I think it would be fair to sum up France by saying that every single team wanted to avoid them, except maybe for one of the real minnows who have no chance of qualifying but would have enjoyed the glamour of the fixture.'
'There are plenty of plus points from the draw too, however. At least we are in a group with only six teams rather than seven. It is also a good draw geographically, as the places we shall be travelling to will allow us to have good preparation for the games.'
'I am sure the people at the FAI will go to work to ensure we face the other countries at good times of the year for us, and at least I think the travelling arrangements for our fantastic supporters should be pretty good.'
Assuming France live up to their billing and win the group, Ireland’s main rivals for the other qualification place are likely to be Switzerland. We know all about the Swiss having been in the same group for the recent Euro 2004 qualifying campaign.
Switzerland won that group, beating Ireland both home and away, but Hughton, is confident there is very little between the teams. The other opponents for Brian Kerr’s team will be Israel, Cyprus and the Faroe Islands.
He added: 'The results we had against Switzerland in the two qualifying games suggests they are the better team, but there is nothing major for us to fear there and I believe there is not a lot between us.'
'Israel and Cyprus are both games in which we’ll certainly be favourites to win at home. The away legs will be difficult, but I certainly think we’ll be capable of winning them.'
'As for the Faroe Islands, with all due respect to them we should be expected to win home and away, but I am sure they will do their best to make it hard for us. We’ll certainly be doing our homework on all the teams, but at least none of them are totally unknown quantities.'
'After watching the draw the whole prospect of qualification for Germany 2006 is very exciting, and I feel like I want to get into it straight away.'