Giovanni Trapattoni has hit out at the absentees from last night’s win over Northern Ireland and cast major doubt over their future in an Irish jersey.
James McCarthy, Marc Wilson and Jonathan Walters failed to show for the 5-0 win over Nigel Worthington’s outfit at the Aviva Stadium, and attracted the ire of the fiery Italian in the process.
Although the Irish medical team didn’t think that McCarthy’s ankle injury was serious enough to keep him out of the game, at least he has some excuse for failing to appear, whereas it seems as if Wilson and Walters simply didn’t bother to show up for a tournament that has failed to catch fire so far.
“We called these players, they didn’t answer, they didn’t come,” said an angry and typically gesticulating Trapattoni.
“We will have to decide why we call them up next time. This is their federation, the FAI. McCarthy, Wilson and Walters didn’t come, they didn’t bother answering.
“We have been watching these players over one month, two months. If they are injured that is okay but they must come to us and see our doctor. It is about respect. It shouldn’t happen anywhere, not just Ireland.”
“We discovered these two or three players,” Trapattoni added. “Where were these two or three players one or two years ago?”
None of the players involved are established internationals and they may soon learn, as the likes of Andy Reid has done in the past, that once you get on the wrong side of the manager, there’s no turning back.
This controversy comes in the wake of Anthony Stokes’ decision to withdraw from the squad because he was too tired. Bless.
Stokes’ behavior would be questioned if he was an Irish regular, but for a man with fewer than five caps, it beggars belief and will probably signal the end of his international career, certainly you suspect, as long as Trapattoni is in charge.
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