INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLY/Rep of Ireland 3 Algeria 0:MANAGERS TEND to want different things from these end-of-season friendlies and often the results can be a little misleading. By the end of last night's surprisingly easy victory for the Republic of Ireland at the RDS, however, there was little need to hear the two men's respective takes on the game.
One, after all, had just seen his side take another very small step towards developing a capacity to qualify for a major championship in a couple of years with their biggest win since 2007; the other had seen his urgent programme of experimentation ahead of next month’s World Cup unravel badly for the second time in succession.
For Republic of Ireland coach Giovanni Trapattoni, the positives were many. Paul Green turned in an assured performance in midfield. Keiren Westwood in goal looked good even if he was rarely tested to any great extent and Greg Cunningham did well enough to suggest his promise has not been over-estimated.
The more established players pretty much all had a satisfactory night in what was a pretty poor game.
Green even chipped in with a goal, but Robbie Keane outdid him late on with two, the first an opportunistic effort after the Algerians failed to cope with a straightforward set-piece, the second a penalty after the Dutch referee had interpreted what looked to be a good challenge by Djamel Mesbah on the Spurs striker to be a foul.
Mesbah was one of six Algerians to make his debut as Rabah Sadaane desperately seeks to integrate new players. The team looked like it still has a remarkable amount of work to do if next month’s trip to South Africa is not to be painful and brief.
A couple of the side’s established players were missing and Rais M’Bolhi did not perhaps get time to do himself justice after coming on, but the North Africans are short on quality and if goalkeeper Faouzi Chaouchi is not better than the first impression he made last night suggested, then the Algerians could be in trouble.
For the Irish, the news on pretty much all fronts was much better. At left back Cunningham seemed comfortable in his first taste of senior international football. The 19-year-old looked eager to get involved, and when a quick exchange of passes with Damien Duff went awry early on he kept his head well, moving quickly to help recover the situation.
Much of his time was spent trying to contain the lively Karim Ziani but the task never looked beyond him.
On the one occasion Cunningham did fluff things in the first half – a badly sliced clearance after an initial header by Seán St Ledger that fell in front of him – Westwood came with conviction to gather above a packed group of players.
When he headed straight to Guedioura not long after the break, however, he was more fortunate to see the returned shot go well wide.
Westwood’s catch, meanwhile, had been just one of a string of good ones by the Coventry City goalkeeper who was decisive about coming off his line and self-assured once he did. Through the opening half, at least, he never needed to be any more than that.
Rafik Djebbour threatened just once to capitalise on one of his side’s more searching balls forward, and on that occasion St Ledger intervened with a wonderfully executed challenge.
Green’s impact rather overshadowed the rest of those on a real mission to impress. The 27-year-old midfielder looked neat and tidy through the early stages with the odd tackle here and pass there enough to ensure he got noticed.
But then the man who has averaged a goal every eight games or so over the course of almost a decade in the English lower leagues made it one in two as a senior international when he popped up, or more accurately down, to get past Chaouchi and head home from close range after Adlane Guedioura had failed to make contact with a curling Liam Lawrence cross after a set-piece that had involved Duff.
The Fulham winger was the provider for the second. It came seven minutes into the second half when he floated in a cross Chaouchi nudged tamely away only to see Keane, with his back to goal, coolly hook the ball him.
Within 10 minutes, the Irish skipper might have had a hat-trick. Westwood’s long balls upfield towards Doyle or Lawrence had seemed to cause the visitors more and more problems and two in succession handed clear-cut chances to the Dubliner. His first effort, a left-footed drive from an angle out on the left, was saved by Chaouchi.
Guedioura almost pulled one back but saw his effort come back off the crossbar, but the Irish continued to look the better even as Trapattoni made changes.
Five minutes from time the victory was wrapped up thanks to the 43rd goal of Keane’s international career - this time from the spot.
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Westwood (Coventry City); Kelly (Fulham), St Ledger (Preston North End), O’Shea (Manchester United), Cunningham (Manchester City); Lawrence (Stoke City), Green (Derby County), Whelan (Stoke City), Duff (Fulham); Keane (Tottenham Hotspur), Doyle (Wolves). Subs: O’Dea (Celtic) for O’Shea (36 mins), Fahey (Birmingham City) for Duff (65 mins), Sheridan (Celtic) for Doyle (72 mins), Andrews (Blackburn Rovers) for Whelan (75 mins), J Murphy (Scunthorpe) for Westwood), Long (Reading) for Lawrence (86 mins).
ALGERIA: Chaouchi; Guedioura, Ballaid, Halliche, Mesbah; Mansouri, Ziani, Lacen, Belhadj; Djebbour, Ghezzal. Subs: Saifi for Djebbour (58 mins), Kadir for Mansouri, Boudebouz for Belhadj, M’Bolhi for Chaouchi (all 67 mins), Abdoun for Ghezzal (77 mins).
Referee: E Braamhar (Netherlands).
