SOCCER:TRADITION DICTATES that immediately after each draw for a major championship the title "Group of Death" simply has to be assigned. Sometimes the competition really isn't all that stiff but it says something about the task facing Denmark at next summer's European Championships that Group B was widely acknowledged to have snatched the title ahead of a line-up that includes Spain, Italy Croatia and, of course, the Republic of Ireland.
Morten Olsen’s men will have to finish above two of the Netherlands, Germany and Portugal if they are to stick around the competition longer than their initial three games in the Ukraine, and afterwards John Delaney said that his Danish opposite number was “on the floor”.
Members of the Irish camp, meanwhile, were putting a brave face on a draw that requires them to get the better of at least one of the current European/world champions, the team that they succeeded as world champions or a side that has climbed steadily in the world rankings to the point where it is now sitting fairly pretty at number eight.
“Obviously we know all the teams in all the groups are very difficult,” said Giovanni Trapattoni immediately afterwards. “But we cannot think about the names of these famous teams. We have to think about our attitude and mentality, our performance. Only with this thinking can we do well. Every game is 90 minutes and anything is possible in football during those 90 minutes.”
Asked about each of the teams individually, the Ireland manager repeatedly found himself using the term “creative” and it appears that a great deal of responsibility will rest on the shoulders of his central midfield players in Poland next summer, which would be a little less worrying if one of the manager’s first choices in that department, Keith Andrews, hadn’t laughed during a recent interview at the prospect of Glenn Whelan and himself having to cope with the passing and movement of the Spanish.
The world champions have looked a little below their best in recent friendly games but they will head to Poland unbeaten in a competitive match since their opener at the last World Cup, where they ultimately went on to triumph. It was no surprise then Trapattoni played down the significance of the current dip.
As for the Italians, he acknowledged that he previously expressed a preference for not meeting the side he has previously played for and managed but he sought to accentuate the positive now that it will come to pass.
“I said it would be better not to play them psychologically,” he said. “But I also know them better and their players. We can play against them. We can think about the win over Italy (in May) and also our performance in Bari. Italy is the last game and I hope to come to the last game with some results. It’s important, though, that we have no injuries and a complete squad.”
Similarly he pointed to his side’s recent draw with Croatia as evidence that Ireland can be competitive against Slaven Bilic’s men while his opposite number, as he had done in August, was at pains to be respectful towards Trapattoni and the Irish as he summarised his reaction to the draw.
“It’s a privilege,” he said, “to play against the reigning European and world champions, Spain; the former world champions Italy and, of course, the Republic of Ireland because, first, they have a great manager in Giovanni Trapattoni; second, they have great spirit and a great team and, third, because they have great fans.”
Cesare Prandelli, the Italians’ coach with whom Trapattoni enjoys a close friendship, went further, rather heaping it on when it came to his old mentor. “I have no problem playing against Spain or Germany or Holland – my problem is Ireland because of Trap,” he said. “Please, please, I said, I don’t want to play against him. No, I don’t want to play against the maestro. He is my teacher.
“Almost everything I’ve learned in football, I learned from him. I like to speak with him, to learn from him and to eat with him – but not to play against him. For this reason, I really did not want to be drawn against Ireland.”
Vicente del Bosque, predictably enough, was slightly less effusive. “I remember in 2002 we were winning 1-0,” he said of the last meeting between Spain and Ireland, also Ireland’s last game at a major championship, “and in the last minute Niall Quinn won a penalty from which Ireland equalised and we could have lost the game in extra-time before winning on penalties. They will be a difficult rival.”
Here’s hoping he’s right.
Ireland did at least get lucky on the logistics front. True, they missed out on the possibility of being based in just one venue but they will be in Poland, or more precisely Gdansk and Poznan, for the group stages leaving them with the least amount of travel possible.
That two of the games will be played in Poznan where Ireland 20 years ago squandered a 3-1 lead against the Poles, a slip-up that effectively cost them a place at the 1992 European Championships, may not be the best of omens but then the meeting with Italy in the city will take place on June 18th, the 18th anniversary of the day Ray Houghton scored the only goal in the game between the two sides at the Giants Stadium.
