Soccer:Republic of Ireland boss Giovanni Trapattoni has warned his side's Euro 2012 qualifying rivals they face the sternest of tests in Armenia. The 71-year-old saw his men battle their way past the Armenians at the Yerevan Republican Stadium tonight courtesy of substitute Keith Fahey's 76th-minute strike.
Trapattoni had predicted a tight encounter and has warned Group B rivals Russia and Slovakia that they will not have it all their own way when they make the trip to the former Soviet republic.
“I saw in the qualification for the World Cup that Armenia lost one or two games, but they played very, very well," said the Italian. “I think it will be not easy also for other teams coming here.
“Yesterday I said that this was not an easy game for two reasons: it was the first game and psychologically the weather was very hot for our players, who have played only one or two games so far this season.
“I knew it would be very, very difficult. I said I didn’t know which game it would be, whether it would be possible to play well or possible not to play well, and it proved to be a very, very difficult game for us.
“But I think over the 90 minutes, we deserved to win the game. We had difficult situations in our defence and Shay Given had to make some important saves, but in the first half, Robbie Keane had two very good chances.”
Keane skewed an eighth-minute volley just wide and after having a goal disallowed for offside, hit the post with the sort of chance he has buried throughout his international career.
However, Trapattoni insisted that his lack of football this season — he has made just two appearances as a substitute for Tottenham — has not left him lacking sharpness.
He said: “He is a little bit injured at the moment, that’s why I changed him. But he also created chances for us.”
Fahey’s goal was his first at senior international level in his fourth appearance, and it came just eight minutes after he had replaced winger Aiden McGeady.
However, the Italian revealed he introduced him in part to help out full-back Kevin Kilbane as Armenia pushed for a winner of their own in a late assault.
Trapattoni said: “McGeady worked very hard, but at that moment, Armenia were very, very dangerous on the right side, so I put on Fahey to help Kilbane a little bit.”
Trapattoni has made something of a habit of guiding his side to narrow victories in competitive games — indeed, they have lost only once under the Italian when it mattered, the first leg of their World Cup play-off against France last November.
His critics often accuse him of taking a conservative approach, but having admitted last night that he would willingly take a 1-0 victory, he was satisfied with exactly that result.
He said: “It is not easy for a coach or manager to say before a game ‘we will win’ because we have to respect our opponents. We must have respect for those opponents.
“I thought it would be possible to win this game, but so did the Armenian coach and we knew it would not be easy.”
The win sets up Ireland perfectly for Tuesday’s clash with minnows Andorra in Dublin, where a repeat would give them an excellent start and set them up nicely for perhaps tougher tests later in the campaign.