SOCCER/European Championship Group 10 - Albania v Ireand: For those seeking to gauge the perception internationally of Ireland's football prowess there were some contradictory pointers yesterday. Here in Tirana, it emerged, the government and FA are offering more than twice the bonus they shelled out for Saturday's win over Russia if the players can repeat the trick against Brian Kerr's men this evening.
Less flatteringly, there was news from back in Tbilisi that Georgian coach Alexander Chivadze reckoned his side's defeat by the Irish over the weekend was sufficiently humiliating to necessitate his departure.
Kerr will at least be relieved to hear that his Georgian counterpart has been persuaded to stay on until after today's game against Switzerland, in which, it is hoped, the home side can pick up their first points.
Despite the considerable satisfaction he will have drawn from his side's 2-1 win at the Lokomotiv stadium over the weekend, however, Kerr won't need to be told that if the Albanian squad collects its $150,000 win bonus this evening there will be consensus on his team's status: Euro 2004 also-rans.
Another three points, on the other hand, would further rejuvenate Ireland's hopes of getting to Portugal next summer, and the Republic's record on these sort of jaunts is one reason for optimism.
The away double-headers in Latvia and Lithuania, Iceland and Lithuania as well as Cyprus and Andorra all yielded maximum points, while the defeat in Zagreb prior to the victory in Malta in September 1999 was the result of a decent Croatian side's determination to prevent Mick McCarthy's men slipping away with even a solitary point.
On the face of it, though, the Republic will need to improve on the display at the weekend if another double is to be achieved. The two points dropped by Switzerland here before Christmas suggested that Tirana would be a difficult place to win in, but the manner in which the hosts punished Russia's errors underlined just how much progress they have made in recent years.
The hosts appear to have been aided, too, by the tactical know how of their new German coach, Hans-Peter Briegel, who switched both tactics and personnel to counter the strengths of the Russians and who seems intent on changing things about once again on the basis of what he perceives as the different problems posed by the Irish.
Like Kerr, he has his injury problems, with the team's star player and huge local favourite Edwin Murati ("he's the Maradona of the Balkans", everyone observes matter-of-factly here, as if mentioning his age) likely to miss the game due to a hamstring injury, although their lack of left-sided options might yet oblige the hosts to take a chance on the Brescia midfielder's fitness.
On the plus side, from Briegel's standpoint, the team's most technically able striker, 29-year-old Trabzonspor player Alban Bushi, is expected to be fit to play alongside Albania's big target man Igli Tare.
With the talents available to him it is anticipated that the German coach will abandon the 3-4-1-2 approach employed at the weekend and switch instead to a standard 4-4-2, a move aimed in part, it seems, at countering the greater aerial threat presented by this evening's visitors.
Quite how great that threat will be, however, remains to be seen. Kerr, as seems to be his wont these days, declined to give any real indication to his starting line-up, but it is possible that Gary Doherty, despite his crucial goal in Tbilisi, could start on the bench.
While going out of his way to praise the player's general workrate, Chris Hughton was mildly critical of the 23-year-old's overall performance on Saturday.
Kerr, meanwhile, last week observed that Ireland had come through the World Cup finals with Robbie Keane and Damien Duff up front in very much a "if it was good enough for out there it'll be good enough for Tbilisi or Tirana" sort of way.
If Kerr reckons Keane is fully fit then the Dubliner will start. When specifically asked whether the Tottenham player is ready to start a competitive international after a three-week lay-off followed by a single game last Monday and difficult week on the personal front, he was not entirely direct, observing only that Keane had come through the Spurs game and had felt himself that he was ready to play again before that.
Kerr then went on to make clear his admiration for the talents of a young man he first came across during the build-up to the World Youth Cup in Malaysia when Keane was barely 16-years-old.
"I'd heard that he was making waves before that," he recalled, "but when I got some of the younger lads together to have a look at them he stood out for me. I would have taken him to Malaysia with us but it was too late really and I was already bringing Damien (Duff) who was two years younger than the rest of the squad himself but still a year older than Robbie."
Assuming Keane is fit to start then Kerr's options are either to drop Doherty or to replace one of Saturday's wide men with Duff. If the Blackburn winger were played on the left then it is not out of the question that Mark Kinsella's lack of first team club football of late would make Kevin Kilbane a more attractive option in the centre, although the Sunderland player has missed a good deal of training over the past couple of days with a groin strain. Ultimately, though, it is hard to escape the fact that keeping Doherty in reserve at the outset looks to be the path of least resistance for the manager.
To some extent Kerr deliberately fuelled the speculation yesterday when he rather pointedly mentioned that his preference, when league or underage tournament games followed quickly after each other, was to make changes aimed at "adding freshness" regardless of previous results. It is still hard to see, though, where else he would drop players that generally performed well at the weekend.
If they can do so again, the midfield asserts itself more offensively and Keane's return adds the bite required up front then another win hardly seems out of the question. If not then Albania's prime minister, who emerged beaming from Saturday's win with the words, "Albania can now say it has beaten a former superpower," will probably look happier again as he smiles for the cameras and dishes out the fun-sized cheques.
POSSIBLE TEAMS
ALBANIA: Strakosha (Kallfea, Gre); Bellaj (OFI Crete, Gre), A Duro (Steaua Bucharest, Rom), Cipi (Gent, Bel), Aliaj (SK Tirana); K Duro (Maiatispor, Tur), Lala (Hanover 96, Ger), Hasi (Anderlecht, Bel), Skela (Eintracht Frankfurt, Ger); Tare (Brescia, Ita), Bushi (Trabzonspor, Tur).
IRELAND: Given (Newcastle United); Carr (Tottenham Hotspur), Breen (West Ham United), Cunningham (Birmingham City), O'Shea (Manchester United); Carsley (Everton), Kinsella (Aston Villa), Holland (Ipswich Town), Kilbane (Sunderland); Keane (Tottenham Hotspur), Duff (Blackburn Rovers).
