Bosnian 'send-off' for Ireland

THE FAI have all but confirmed the details of the Republic of Ireland’s preparations for the European Championships in Poland this summer, with Giovanni Trapattoni and his players set, as expected, for games against Bosnia Herzegovina and Hungary, as well as a week in Montecatini, Italy, before they touch down in Poland on June 5th.

The Bosnians will provide the opposition for the team’s “send off” at the Aviva Stadium on May 26th, after which Ireland will head for Italy and the training camp outside Florence that Trapattoni said before the draw in Kiev in early December had been recommended to him by friends.

When the Irish were then drawn against the Italians, who are due to be based quite close by, it had been suggested the manager would look at other options, including the likes of Portugal, Germany and Austria but Trapattoni said at the time if the facility was good enough he would not be deterred by the threat of excessive media attention and having viewed it since, the association is in the final stages of sorting out the logistics of the trip.

Speaking on RTÉ radio yesterday morning FAI chief executive John Delaney also confirmed a training game against a local Serie C (third division) side was likely to be arranged so as to give players not centrally involved in the Aviva Stadium match a run-out.

The team will then break the journey to Poland in Budapest for a friendly against Hungary, which will mark Trapattoni’s last opportunity to look at his players in a match situation prior to the team’s first outing of the tournament, in Poznan on the evening of June 10th. “We’re playing the Czech Republic on the 29th of February,” said Delaney, “and then on the 26th of May we’ll have Bosnia, which will be our last home game before we travel to Montecatini to spend a week in a training camp.

“Then, on the way to Poland we’ll most likely play in Budapest (on June 4th) before arriving in Poland on the 5th, ahead of our first game, against Croatia.”

Neither the training venue nor the Budapest game appeared to be completely set in stone yesterday, with some loose ends apparently still to be tied up but they are expected to be sorted out by next week and Delaney says Trapattoni is happy with the line-up despite the absence of the sort of glamour tie that had been seen as the ideal way to wrap things up in Dublin.

“The Czech Republic have qualified,” he said, “they’re one of the 16 teams that will be in Poland and Ukraine, while the Bosnians are ranked 19 in the world and play a similar style of football to Croatia.

“The manager wanted that as part of the preparations for that first group game and they play a very similar style to Croatia.”

Delaney said the association is continuing in its efforts to source additional tickets for the team’s group games at the finals and he announced further cuts to prices for the game against the Czechs, with seats, which go on sale this morning, starting at €20 for adults and costing €10 for children throughout the ground.

There is also a three-for-two offer for season ticket holders wishing to buy additional tickets.