SOCCER/Rep of Ireland v Chile, Lansdowne Road, Kick-off: 7.30. On TV: Sky Sports 1: After naming his team for tonight's game against Chile at Lansdowne Road Steve Staunton was asked if, based on the players he had chosen, he was opting for a 4-3-3 formation. "It's 11 v 11," he said with a smile, and that's as much information as he would divulge.
All that's certain, then, about Staunton's selection is that 22-year-old Tottenham right-back Stephen Kelly will make his senior international debut, and Gary Breen, currently without a club having been released by Sunderland at the end of the season, will make his first Irish appearance, alongside Richard Dunne at the centre of the defence, since the 1-0 win over Croatia in Dublin in November 2004.
Beyond that, it's conjecture. Will Kevin Kilbane, who will win his 70th senior cap, play at left-back?
"We'll see tomorrow night," said Staunton, "Kevin is very versatile, I think he can play in four positions for me so we'll try him out in different positions."
Liverpool's Steve Finnan will undergo a fitness test this morning after suffering a reaction to a knee injury in training yesterday but, if declared fit, is likely to line up on the right side of midfield, a position, ironically, he was unhappy being played in by Brian Kerr.
"I am a right back but the previous manager played me a lot in midfield," said Finnan earlier in the week, "I don't feel I got a fair crack of the whip, but it's gone now, there's a change and we are all looking forward to a new start under Steve Staunton."
Right-back was the position, more often than not, that was given to Stephen Carr in the Kerr regime, and, bizarrely enough, Finnan was unaware until last Saturday, when told by a journalist, that Carr had announced weeks before that he was coming out of retirement to resume his international career. "It's the first I heard of it," he said.
Stephen Reid and John O'Shea, as they did against Sweden in Staunton's first game in charge in March, will partner each other in the centre of midfield, with Kevin Doyle again chosen to link up with Robbie Keane up front, with the possibility of Damien Duff making it a three-pronged attack, with Doyle supporting from the right.
It was 15 years and two days ago that Chile last visited Dublin, their 1-1 draw at Lansdowne Road marking Jack Charlton's 50th game in charge and the debut of one Roy Keane. Whether tonight's meeting with the South Americans proves to be the starting point in the senior international career of any of the batch of newcomers called up by Staunton remains to be seen.
"If I'm allowed six subs there will be six subs coming on, it will be flexible," he said. "Everyone who is fit will be on the bench, although Liam Lawrence will not be taking part, he hurt his groin in training so he's out. It's disappointing for the lad, but there's nothing you can do, injuries happen.
"Stephen Kelly has done very well. When I told him he was playing - and I told him after the first training session - he stepped up a gear, which I was delighted about. It's a big thing for him. I told him early because he's got family back home and we wanted him to be able to let them know. At club level it's down to him where he moves next. He needs to be playing football - and he's good enough to be playing."
Like Ireland, Chile missed out on qualification for this summer's World Cup, finishing seventh in South America's 10-team qualifying group, an improvement on their qualification campaign for the 2002 World Cup finals, when they finished bottom of the group, but still one that left them 12 points adrift of table toppers Brazil and six behind Paraguay, who took the fourth and final qualifying spot.
A 2-2 draw with Argentina in Buenos Aires was the highlight of their campaign, their 5-0 defeat by Brazil the definite low, that result described by a Chilean newspaper as "the worst in our history".
It is, then, a rebuilding phase for Chile, ranked at 64 in the world (compared to Ireland's placing of 31st), whose game at Lansdowne Road is the first of three on a brief European tour - they play World Cup finalists Ivory Coast and Sweden, in France and Sweden, in the next 10 days.
Finnan is the only member of the Irish squad familiar with any of tomorrow's opponents, just six of whom are European-based, although Mark Gonzalez only spent a month training with Liverpool last season before departing on loan to Real Sociedad while awaiting a work permit that will allow him play in the Premiership.
"It's been a good few days for us. The lads were really good, very lively, worked very hard," said Staunton. "Their fitness levels are as high as they would have been two months ago. It's been enjoyable and, with the new lads coming in, everyone has mixed really well. Now we look forward to Chile.
"It will be a tough game, they're a good side, they work really hard. From our point of view, if we've got a good attitude, go out with the same hunger we showed against Sweden, we'll be okay. It's more about the performance than the result. We just want to see if the lads have taken on board what we've tried to do in training. We never play 'only' friendlies. We go out to win the games. But the most important thing is that we see a positive performance."
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: S Given (Newcastle Utd); S Kelly (Tottenham), R Dunne (Manchester City), G Breen (Unattached), K Kilbane (Everton); S Finnan (Liverpool), S Reid (Blackburn), J O'Shea (Manchester Utd), D Duff (Chelsea); K Doyle (Reading), R Keane (Tottenham). Subs: W Henderson (Brighton), I Harte (Levante), G Kavanagh (Wigan), J Gamble (Cork City), M Doyle (Coventry City), A Reid (Tottenham), T Dixon (Tottenham), A McGeady (Celtic), J Byrne (Shelbourne), J Douglas (Leeds), L Miller (Leeds).
