Spring was most definitely in the air. The sloping splendour
of the AVIVA stadium shone ever brighter beneath the clear blue sky. Poland and
the Ukraine were inching closer over the horizon, it was February 29th
and Giovanni Trapattoni had taken a leap into the known with his team
selection.
It was ever thus. Despite the incessant calls for James
McClean to make his international debut and despite the remerging claims of
James McCarthy, Trap stuck to what he knew. Only injuries deprived him of his
chosen eleven with Leeds’s Darren O’Dea coming in for Richard Dunne and Shane
Long deputising for Kevin Doyle.
Robbie Keane’s role was slightly altered. The manager once
again compared him to Francesco Totti in the build up to the match and believed
the Tallaght man could control the game in the traditional number ten role.
Shane Long had edged Jonathan Walters from the starting eleven as Trappatoni
believed the West Brom man’s pace would be important in stretching the Czech
back four and opening up pockets of space for Keane to operate in.
Ireland began brightly. The party atmosphere of the home
crowd extended to the pitch where Keane in particular flashed some moments of
magic. Glenn Whelan and Keith Andrews were snapping into challenges while Duff
and McGeady were running hard and direct at their opposing full-backs. Then
Ireland reverted to type.
The Czech’s started to weave little patterns and Ireland
began to cede more and more territory. The Czech ten in particular Jiri Stajner
began to find influence in front of Ireland’s back four. The home side were
hardly stretched and the Czech possession game was pretty but not effective.
The Group C opposition will merge the two though.
Milan Baros broke his international duck with the opener
five minutes into the second half. It was an exceptionally poor goal to concede
with John O’Shea of all people only having eyes for the ball. Ireland rallied
somewhat after the goal with substitutions playing a part. As ever with Trapattoni
though, you must query the thought process behind the switches.
We are all footballing plebs bowing to the senator that is
Trap. He probably actually has forgotten more about the game than any of us at
a keyboard know. That however, makes the decision to send Paul Green on instead
of James McCarthy even more ridiculous. Green is a middling player, a poor man’s
Glenn Whelan. McCarthy if certain people are to be believed is being tracked by
the biggest clubs in the Premiership. He possesses a sureness of touch that
would find a happy home at international level. Keith Andrews and Glenn Whelan
are deserving first choices; Andrews in particular looked sharp last night but
McCarthy must be first reserve.
Trapattoni handled James McClean perfectly though. There is
now an absurd level of expectations placed upon a kid who didn’t enter most people’s
thoughts as recently as December. The Aviva shook with the roar that greeted
his arrival. The slumping shoulders of the press box sprung up and everyone’s
eyes were drawn to no: 26. His arrival along with Jonathan Walters and Simon
Cox had a galvanising effect, and Ireland deservedly snatched an equaliser
through incisive, clever work from Cox.
Cox is fast becoming another Trapattoni success story. He is
genuinely different to Ireland’s other strikers and how many marked him out as
a potential international starter before Trap? He took a chance on him and it
paid off, but why doesn’t he take a chance on what seem sure things. Seamus
Coleman is a regular Premiership starter. He may not possess the defensive nous
required at right-back but he has the capacity to be a force as a right winger.
We go to the championships with a first eleven set in stone.
Utterly unmoveable yet we face opponents who will demand change, demand
innovation. There is merit in having a settled team and what Trapattoni has
done in that cannot be argued with. A small flourish now though, of youth and
vitality could give us a genuine shot. McCarthy not Green, Coleman not Hunt.
All those loyal Trap lieutenants packed their bags after
Estonia though. The team for Croatia may as well be named now. The rocky road
to Poland is smooth sailing all the way; Don Gio though, could use a little
leap in the unknown.
