In some quarters, Ireland’s friendly clash with Italy this evening is about as eagerly anticipated as a punch in the face. Here are five reasons why it’s worth tuning in.
No more Ireland for three months
If international football is your cup of tea, three games (albeit two limp affairs) for the Irish team in the space of two weeks should have more than whetted your appetite.
Prepare yourself for a barren period and some Kevin Kilbane-related withdrawal symptoms from tomorrow on, however, as the boys in green won’t be in action again until the crucial qualifier with Slovakia at the beginning of September, nearly three months away.
Seamus Coleman
It’s fair to say that we’ve led the cheerleading for Coleman all season in JOE towers, so impressed were we with the flying Donegal man’s performances on the wing for Everton throughout this campaign.
Gareth Bale and Cesc Fabregas (remember the run down the wing against Arsenal at Goodison Park?) were amongst the casualties as Coleman made the rest of the Premier League stand up and take notice, although it must be said that his performance level dipped somewhat towards the end of the campaign.
At international level, Coleman has been the victim of both his versatility and the form of others, with Trap not trusting him as a right back and Aiden McGeady, Stephen Hunt and Damien Duff all clearly ahead of him in the pecking order for a wing spot.
Three unspectacular displays in the Carling Nations Cup have been Coleman’s lot in an Irish jersey so far, but Trap is bound to be impressed if he can put in a decent shift against a side that the old man would probably still be managing if he had the choice.
Once in a lifetime experience
We’ve been lucky enough in Ireland this year to be present for ground-breaking events that don’t happen very often; the visit of the Queen, Barack Obama having a pint of the black stuff in Offaly, Ireland winning an international soccer tournament.
Prepare yourself for yet another once-in-a-lifetime experience if you’re watching events in Liege this evening, as we can pretty much guarantee that Paul McShane will never, ever, again be given the captain’s armband for an Irish soccer team.
Quality opposition
While the Irish team will contain only one, possibly two players that started against Macedonia and is, in the majority, a rag-tag bunch of misfits plying their trade in the Championship or lower, there are some serious players togging out for the Azzuri this evening.
The Italian Job: Rossi and Pazzini are a potent partnership
Consider the Rossi-Pazzini strikeforce, for example. Impish former Manchester United striker Rossi is one of the most sought-after forwards in Europe thanks to 32 goals in all competitions for Villarreal, while Giampaolo ‘The Madman’ Pazzini knocked in 11 goals for Inter after joining them in January from Sampdoria, for whom he had scored ten times in the first half of the season.
In short, they’re quality and far superior to the forwards that Sean St. Ledger and Darren O’Dea come up against on a regular basis.
Behind them you have the ever-impressive Andrea Pirlo and the like-minded Riccardo Montolivo, while at the back, Giorgio Chiellini is the latest in a long line of no-nonsense Italian defenders and has long been a target of some of the top clubs in Europe.
It’s not that we’ll be willing Italy to do well this evening, but there’s nothing wrong with appreciating quality, especially when the result has zero impact on our qualification prospects.
Sexy women
Granted, there mightn’t be too many supporters in attendance in Liege this evening, but when the camera pans the crowd at the 30,000-seater stadium before and during the game, keep an eye out for some smiling, sexy and sophisticated Italian female supporters, who will hopefully bear some resemblance to these compatriots of theirs.
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