36 IRELAND OVERVIEW Could Irish Eyes Be Smiling?
Andy Townsend played for the Republic of Ireland 70 times, representing his country at two World Cups, the second as captain. He has been part of ITV’s broadcast team for more than a decade, and will commentate on some of the biggest matches at Euro 2012. By Andy Townsend
former Ireland captain Andy Townsend,
Republic of Ireland national team H
istorically, Ireland have always made hard work of qualifi cation. Even in my time, the Jack Charlton era, it was never a
cruise. We’ve certainly never had the pleasure of one of those campaigns enjoyed by the Dutch or the Germans in which they typically win nine and draw one. Ireland have always gone into the last game or two looking over their shoulders, worrying about potential play-offs, and this qualifying campaign was no different. After what happened last time with
France and Thierry Henry’s infamous handball, I felt we deserved a bit of luck in these play-offs, which we duly got by being paired with Estonia. We went out to Tallinn and played extremely well, managing to build up a healthy lead, which allowed us for once to cruise over
the line. It must have been lovely for the lads to enjoy the moment back in Dublin. There are a lot of players in the group who haven’t been through a successful qualifying campaign before, so for them to coast over the line in front of their own fans must have been fantastic. So what has coach Giovanni Trapattoni done right? Firstly, the players understand him and they know what they will get from him. He hasn’t turned the Irish into a machine capable of frightening the opposition, but he has got a team that is well drilled, very honest, extremely hard working, tough to break down and does not concede many goals. Trapattoni doesn’t like to alter things,
and rarely rotates or changes his system. In recent months we’ve had a situation with the young Sunderland player, James
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McClean in which it seems public opinion has dragged him into the squad, despite the sense that Trapattoni has been quite reluctant to make changes. I admire that, but I do also think that in this particular case he’s absolutely right to integrate James McClean because he’s got genuine pace, power and stamina and I think he’ll be really appreciated by the travelling Irish fans.
It was vital for Ireland to qualify
this time round, a target not achieved in recent times. With a team like ours you can’t have someone in charge that looks like they are going to buckle and Trapattoni is certainly not for buckling or bending or changing. He is a vastly experienced campaigner who will not alter his mindset for anyone or anything. Yes we can be quite predictable and
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