SOCCER:REPUBLIC OF Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni described his side's remaining four European Championship qualifiers as "cup finals" as he reflected on Saturday night's 2-0 win in Skopje on his return to Dublin yesterday. The crucial victory keeps Ireland level on 13 points with Slovakia and Russia in the Group B table.
The manager and his players will wrap things up for the summer with tomorrow’s friendly against Italy in Liege but already the focus is on September when critically important games against the group’s other qualification contenders will go a long way towards deciding whether the Irish team makes it to Poland and the Ukraine or not.
“Every game for us now is like a cup final if we want to qualify,” he said.
“Russia beat us and we drew in Slovakia but we can recover the advantage in September. I think it might be possible to answer the question (of who qualifies) after the two games then but in my opinion it will come down to the last game.”
As things stand Ireland would lose out to their rivals on the basis of the head-to-head results and upwards of four points could be necessary from the two games if Trapattoni’s men are to top the table.
The 72-year-old declined to tempt fate by predicting his players could achieve that but he did suggest that he feels the team is playing well enough to maintain its challenge right up until the final round of games.
“Finally, the team is now playing the way we wanted it to,” he said.
“It has acquired the right mentality but the players must now maintain this level of performance. If they do then we can play with confidence against anyone.
“We don’t know whether we can command the field but we are better at fighting for control now,” he said.
“When we have the ball we play and look to score. But when we lose the ball it’s important that we have this attitude. When it happened against Macedonia (Robbie) Keane and (Simon) Cox were the first men pressing against their defence. That’s important. I have had many teams with this mentality; teams with creative players but also the right attitude.”
Ireland’s qualification target, of course, would have been made more attainable over the weekend if Armenia had managed to hang on for an away point in Moscow or if the Slovaks had not eked out a solitary goal at home to Andorra but both, as the Irish have done so many times after difficult games, consoled themselves with the fact that they had, in the end, secured the wins they needed.
“We won and that’s all,” said Miroslav Karhan who scored Slovakia’s only goal against the minnows in the 63rd minute on Saturday.
“Of course, we should have added more goals and we had a lot of chances to do that, but everybody knows everything in our group will be decided in autumn.”
With the last of this season’s real work done over the weekend, Trapattoni allowed several more senior players to leave the squad. Kevin Kilbane and Shay Given have departed to do a coaching course, Robbie Keane has been allowed to rest a groin strain, Keith Fahey has a knee problem and John O’Shea has been permitted to return home where his wife is expecting a baby.
A number of those face ongoing uncertainty in their club careers with Keane likely to part company with Spurs on a permanent basis and Kilbane on the look-out for opportunities to keep playing at as high a level as possible if there is no future for him at Hull City.
After a frustrating year at Manchester City, Given, on the face of it, really should have the strongest options and Trapattoni again said that he had recommended the goalkeeper to managers abroad, both in Italy and elsewhere on the continent on the basis of his consistently strong form for Ireland.
“He deserves to play,” said the coach, “and he is weighing up his options.”
So, too, is the manager ahead of tomorrow’s game in Belgium. He has been pleased by the reactions of Aiden McGeady and Stephen Hunt who opted to stay on for the friendly despite being told they could skip it if they preferred.
Neither looks likely to start, though, on the basis of hints the Italian provided that he will name the most capped player in the starting line-up as captain. Without actually naming anyone he appeared to suggest that the choice comes down to Glenn Whelan or Keith Andrews with the former likely to take the armband, it seems, if he is overcomes an ankle injury.
Whelan’s fitness is an issue in any case because Trapattoni is so short of central midfielders but there are still a few options in other departments with Liam Lawrence and Séamus Coleman in contention for the wide midfield positions.
Shane Long and Andy Keogh are set to start in attack together with Cox likely to make an appearance from the bench in the second half. In defence, meanwhile, Seán St Ledger is on course to start while Stephen Kelly may be rested. David Forde will take over from Given in goal.
All may have cause to be grateful that they went to the trouble of travelling and then sticking around when the squads are named for the more important games at the start of next season for Trapattoni indicated that he will be inclined to stand by those who have stood by him these past few weeks.
“We had 26 or 27 players in the squad, now the priority will be those who came and played,” he said. “I don’t forget (Darron) Gibson or (Marc) Wilson but obviously they have to show that they deserve their place.”
