Four players fail to show up amid varying degrees of controversy and the Aviva Stadium is once again characterised by wide expanses of empty seats. All of which makes an irrelevance of beating our nearest neighbours 5-0.
To those of you who care about the Irish national soccer team – and judging from Tuesday night in Dublin, there are precious few of you left – this week has been a depressing one.
It didn’t need to have been this way. Shay Given was back in action, a week or so before a vital Euro 2012 qualifier away to Macedonia, where a win would put the boys in green in a seriously promising position ahead of Group B’s final four games in the space of five weeks in the autumn.
Our record goalscorer, Robbie Keane, had endured a tawdry second half of the season at West Ham, barely threatening the net and showing signs that all his form and trademark cockiness had left him, but he was in confidence-boosting mood with two goals, taking him to within a brace of the magical 50-goal mark in international football.
There was a goalscoring debut for two players, Stephen Ward and Simon Cox. Johnny Giles declared in RTE’s highlights package on Wednesday evening that Wolves man Ward had been “superb”, and should retain his place at left back in Skopje in ten days’ time. Cox has looked promising in the top flight with West Brom, and having shown his ability off his right foot with a well-taken goal against Spurs recently, finished perfectly off his left against Northern Ireland.
So after a 5-0 win, which following the 3-0 victory over Wales earlier this year leaves Ireland on the brink of a rare international tournament success, there should be plenty of optimism, right?
Optimism, though, was in short supply around the Aviva last night.
The goals kept raining in, but the cheers echoed around the half-empty stadium. One can only be thankful that our esteemed former Taoiseach’s Stadium Ireland plan had been jettisoned all those years ago. Imagine how 15,000 fans might look in an 80,000-capacity cavern out in Abbotstown.
Almost certainly contributing to the apathy of the fans is the unavailability of four players whose absences were shrouded in escalating levels of controversy
Aside from giving away free tickets, the FAI can hardly do a whole lot more. Those who bought tickets for Tuesday night also get free entry to Scotland v Wales this evening and Northern Ireland’s game against the Welsh on Friday.
Far from the ill-advised and exorbitant FAI Vantage Club strategy, the Association are now giving tickets away. Throw in the season ticket for 2011/12, which for less than €200 gives access to six internationals – seven if Trapattoni’s lads reach a Euro 2012 play-off – as well as the FAI Cup final, then it’s clear that efforts are being made to bring the crowds. Still they stay away.
More worryingly than the apathy from the stands, and almost certainly contributing to it, is the unavailability of four players this week, whose absences were all shrouded in escalating levels of controversy.
First, there was Anthony Stokes, who at least went through the proper communication channels to advise that he would not be linking up with the squad. Stokes has struggled with discipline for most of his career, and there must be doubts over his international future given the public manner in which Trap laughed at his excuses of fatigue in Monday’s press conference.
Fatigue has often been cited by modern day footballers, but Stokes has started 26 games for Celtic this season, so Trap’s ironic chuckles were entirely understandable.
There’s a danger James McCarthy, who shoulders a disproportionate bulk of expectations, will be alienated before he’s even started a competitive game
Then there was James McCarthy, which leaves the sourest taste in the mouth. There have been few suggestions that McCarthy is anything other than an exemplary professional, and the way he stuck to his guns when the possibility of switching international allegiance to Scotland presented itself earlier this year prompted many Irish supporters to pin a disproportionate bulk of expectations on his shoulders.
Now, though, following a complete and, yes, public breakdown in communication between the Irish camp and Wigan Athletic, there’s a danger that McCarthy will be alienated before he’s even started a competitive game.
The timeline of events is interesting. While McCarthy had apparently failed to show up, without an excuse, at the Irish team base on Sunday night, it turns out that there were communications between Wigan and the Irish doctor. Still, it was an unsatisfactory situation, with club manager Roberto Martinez saying that McCarthy would be out for three or four weeks with an injury, while the Irish camp believe the scan results they received show no injury that would have kept him out of even Tuesday’s game. The truth is hard to get at, but the Sky Sports News clip following Wigan’s relegation escape on Sunday, in which McCarthy declared that there would be a bit of celebration that night, could be a vital clue.
And then you have Wilson and Walters. Wilson, who can play all across the back four and in midfield, was named to start against Norn Iron and could conceivably have been nailed on to retain that place in Macedonia, while Walters is hardly a Johnny-come-lately, having represented Ireland at U21 level almost a decade ago.
But the travails of travelling across the Irish Sea at the end of the season were too much to bear, when they’ve been so looking forward to putting their feet up beside a nice swimming pool in Bali or the Bahamas or some other hideaway for overpaid footballers.
If the players can’t be bothered showing up, then can you really blame the supporters?
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