Leave aside those titles in Italy, Germany, Portugal and Austria – this is the biggest week of Giovanni Trapattoni’s illustrious, ingenious and contrarian career. Here are five reasons to be cheerful.
Safe hands Shay
If anyone ever feared that his best days may have been behind him, Shay Given has proven the doubters wrong over the first few weeks of the season. When he found himself behind England goalkeeper Joe Hart – read that again, an English goalkeeper was preferred to Shay Given – at Manchester City, there were those of us who reckoned the career of Ireland’s best gloveman of all time was on the wind-down.
Right, he’s only 35, and in an era when Edwin van der Sar and Brad Freidel can play mighty stuff until their 40s, he’s still a young man. Last season couldn’t pass quickly enough and a move to Aston Villa, with a contract that will take him to his 40th birthday, was good for all concerned. It’s Villa, so he’s going to get plenty of practice, right? That should keep him in good fettle for all those crucial Ireland games coming up.
The season has started brilliantly for our Shay, who has been excellent between the sticks over the first three weekends. So good, in fact, that although Villa have failed to score in two of their three games, they’re still unbeaten.
Kevin Kilbane is outta here
There’s no doubt that the long, admirable and sometimes painful-to-watch Ireland career of Kev/Killer/Zinedine is now winding down. For years he toiled up and down the left wing, the combination of Kilbane and Ian Harte sending fear into the hearts of … well, Irish fans everywhere.
When the penny finally dropped that Killer didn’t have much to offer on the wing, he answered the call in midfield. When the penny finally dropped, etc, etc, he filled the problem spot at left back. Now, though, the music has stopped and there are no seats left.
Stephen Ward has developed into a quick, skilful and goal-scoring left back. Okay, he has his defensive flaws, but they’re probably even less pronounced than Kilbane’s.
Our strikers are finding the net
Shane Long has scored against Manchester United and Chelsea already this season (videos here and here), making his £7m transfer fee look like one of the best bits of business conducted by any club this summer. Kevin Doyle, who at one stage was apparently ruled out of these games, made a quick return from injury and cracked in a fine goal against Fulham last week. Robbie Keane should be fresh and well from what has effectively been a working holiday in California, complete with goalscoring debut. Simon Cox, our fourth choice front man, scored against Italy in June.
Two of these three are in super form in the Premier League, the other should know Russia inside out
We even have strikers scoring match-winning Premier League braces (Leon Best) who can’t get in the squad. It’s ridiculously optimistic to suggest that this is a golden era for Irish strikers, but we can at least be confident that these days we have forwards who can trouble any defence. (And if you still doubt us, two words for you: Gary Doherty.)
Crisis in the opposition
Slovakia are suffering from a bit of an injury crisis, apparently, with key man Marek Hamsik a major doubt for Friday night’s game at the Aviva. Martin Skrtel, the plunderin’-and-lootin’ Liverpool hard man, has also sat out training this week.
Add to that the fact that Russia are without their star goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev and you’ll thank us for massaging your fragile confidence.
We never like revelling in serious injuries, but it’s pretty timely that Akinfeev, one of the top keepers on the continent and still playing in his home country only because of the oil wealth which has given Russian clubs massive financial clout in recent years, found himself on the wrong end of a dirty tackle from “complete scumbag” Welliton last weekend.
We’re the form team in Europe!
Take a look at the results. We’ve gone 450 minutes, plus injury time, without conceding a goal. We won a tournament in the summer. We beat Italy 2-0 in Belgium.
Alright, the tournament was a bit Mickey Mouse and the friendly was a bit Donald Duck, but it beats going into these games on the back of some bad results. Just ask Declan Kidney.
Slovakia’s only competitive internationals this year have seen them scrape a couple of 1-0 wins over Andorra. Russia dropped points in Armenia in March, failing to do what Ireland did in the group’s opening game (thanks to a goal from Keith Faw-hey).
So Ireland are the form team in Group B!
Believe!
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