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We have decent players: It’s time they showed up
By Tom Fitzpatrick
 ANOTHER
year has gone and it was yet another nightmare for the Irish soccer team.
Steve Staunton, Steven Ireland, Steven Reid: They were either conspicuous
by their absence or in the limelight far too much.
This year poses more questions and more difficulties.
Much has been made of the debacle surrounding the appointment of Terry
Venables as manager. Sorry, I should say the appointment of the new boss
whoever he might be.
While it looks like Venables will be the man in charge in many ways the
biggest question will be the development of our players in the year ahead.
Although our duty as Irish fans is to moan about the quality of players,
the truth of the matter is we have a good enough squad to at least qualify
for major tournaments.
Our group for the 2010 World Cup is tricky but it could be a lot worse.
Italy? Fair enough we will be happy with a point in either of those games
yet there’s no reason we can’t beat them at home.
Italy will either (a) crash out from their ridiculously hard Euro 2008
group or (b) win the entire tournament on the 40th anniversary of their
first success.
Irish fans will welcome either option as it can only mean one thing: The
retirement of top players.
The likes of Cannavaro, Panucci, Del Piero, Camoranesi and Inzaghi could
all feasibly leave the national squad after Euro 2008.
This could potentially leave them in that in-between stage where a squad
needs time to blood its new players.
In many ways like the problem we’ve been suffering from since 1994.
Who would have thought when Houghton scored all those years ago that today
the word Cyprus would send a shiver down the spine of Irish fans?
So Italy is a tough test but Bulgaria, Georgia, Montenegro and the dreaded
Cyprus are certainly beatable.
A lot will depend on the growth of the players in the Irish first team
who have yet to prove themselves.
Roy Keane’s Irish brigade at Sunderland could soon be strengthened
by the arrival of Stephen Hunt from Reading.
Though Hunt claims he is in the dark about rumours he has failed to rule
out a move to the Stadium of Light.
“No comment. I don’t know anything about that,” Hunt
said clearly not trying too hard to quell a potential transfer.
The likes of Hunt need to start showing more consistency and being more
effective in the final third.
The majority of Irish fans love the Reading man for his enthusiasm and
the fact that he looks like a tree running down the wing but these qualities
don’t quite make Hunt an international player.
His teammates Shane Long and Kevin Doyle have shown plenty of promise
but need to cement first-team places at Reading as a matter of priority.
Although Doyle’s record at international level is good the lack
of quality alternatives means he could be forgiven for becoming complacent.
Andy Reid has shown plenty of good form for Charlton this year but needs
to be consistent enough to be a Paul McGrath — a man you can have
in your team because he is vital despite his dodgy fitness.
The return to full fitness of Damien Duff and Stephen Reid cannot be underestimated.
Both players are continuing their rehabilitation and will be vital to
the squad if and when they return.
Throw in established players like Robbie Keane, Lee Carsley, Steve Finnan,
Shay Given and Richard Dunne and we have a team worth talking about.
A decent centre-back to partner Dunne will also have been top of every
Irishman’s Christmas list.
The issue of Keane’s captaincy is something the new manager needs
to address as a matter of priority.
The fact that he is the Spurs captain is both a positive and a negative
thing. The only team that needs stronger leadership than Ireland’s
is the current Tottenham team.
What is more worrying though is his inability to hit the net in the recent
big games for his country.
One competitive goal in 2007 that came in the final, meaningless game
against Wales is simply not good enough for our star striker.
His miss against Germany when clean through on goal was indicative of
the weight of expectation placed on his shoulders.
Were Richard Dunne given the captain’s armband Keane could focus
solely on hitting the net for Ireland and we all know how much we need
his goals.
Ireland has leaders in other areas of the pitch but we struggle to find
goalscorers and Keane needs to reproduce his Spurs form of recent years
on the international stage.
While there is much haggling to be done over the fixture list for our
upcoming qualifying group, one glamour tie has been announced.
The Brazilians are coming back, this time to Croke Park in February.
Expect them to show some shivering talent on the night with their tights,
gloves, hats and thermal vests somewhat taking away from their ‘samba
boy’ image.
Still it’ll be nice to show them that we have a proper stadium in
Ireland not just a run-down derelict old thing that’s had its day
in the sun.
Did someone mention Terry Venables?
"Andy Reid needs to be consistent enough to
be a Paul McGrath — a man you can have in your team because he is
vital despite his dodgy fitness."
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