Soccer/World Cup Qualifying Group Four: While conceding the outcome of next week's trip to Tel Aviv, for the fifth match of the Republic of Ireland's World Cup qualifying campaign, could have a significant bearing on the team's hopes of reaching the finals in Germany next year, Brian Kerr predicted there will be "a few twists and turns yet" in the group after Saturday week, when the top four will all be in action.
The game against Israel, though, is not one for giving youth its fling, hence the exclusion from the squad of Aiden McGeady, who has returned to the under-21 panel, and three players with limited combined experience: Graham Barrett, Alan Lee and Jon Macken.
Roy Keane and Stephen Carr return to the 23 man squad (they are also picked for the home game against China on March 29th) after missing last month's friendly against Portugal in Dublin, as does third-choice goalkeeper Joe Murphy. Blackburn Rovers' Stephen Reid and Southampton's Rory Delap, both of whom earned Kerr's praise for their club form in recent weeks, have been placed on stand-by.
"With Switzerland playing France and with our game in Israel, it's going to be a very important day," said Kerr. "But we'll only be half-way through the campaign and there'll still be a lot of points to play for - and a lot of results that are going to be crucial to the group.
"Israel are a good side, they're in a good position in the group. They've not been too far away in the last two qualification tournaments," he said. "This is probably the best team they've had in a while. They'll be confident, but under pressure from their own support. There'll be a huge expectation and they'll have to deal with it.
"But they have a clever manager, and under him they had a very good result in Paris, a decent result at home to Switzerland, beat Cyprus home and away, so they'll be in confident mood."
Asked how his team would approach the game, Kerr insisted they would do so positively, looking for a win, but he wouldn't regard a draw as a major setback.
"Would I be disappointed with a draw? I'm rarely disappointed if you draw away and win at home. Most league tables are won by teams that can win at home and draw away. But our approach will be to have a go at Israel and try to win the game. With the balance of this team, playing one up front and five in midfield doesn't suit us. We've got good attacking players, but no great physical strength, so it suits us better to use the passing players. Of course we've got to defend - and if forced to we will - but the approach will be to have a go."
Kerr also insisted he had no concerns about security issues surrounding the trip.
"I think there would be more people killed in the main cities of Ireland most weekends than there would be in Israel and Tel Aviv in particular," he said. "Obviously our supporters have to be sensible about the places they go to, but I think that applies in any country. I've been in Israel with various teams on three occasions and we were treated with great respect and there was no sense of threat around the place. We feel that all the issues of security and safety have been fully dealt with and we have no fears whatsoever. If we had any concerns we wouldn't be going as early, on the Wednesday. We're quite happy."
Israeli manager Avraham Grant is expected to name his squad today and it is likely to include leading scorer Yossi Benayoun of Racing Santander, despite the midfielder struggling with a knee injury.
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND (squad v Israel): Given (Newcastle United), Kenny (Sheffield United), Murphy (Walsall), Carr (Newcastle United), O'Shea (Manchester United), Breen (Sunderland), Dunne (Manchester City), Cunningham (Birmingham City), Finnan (Liverpool), Maybury (Leicester City), O'Brien (Newcastle United), Miller (Manchester United), Roy Keane (Manchester United), Kilbane (Everton), Holland (Charlton Athletic), Quinn (Sheffield United), Kavanagh (Wigan Athletic), Doherty (Norwich City), Reid (Tottenham Hotspur), Morrison (Birmingham City), Robbie Keane (Tottenham Hotspur), Elliott (Sunderland), Duff (Chelsea).
