SOCCER/Rep of Ireland v Portugal: He may have bigger fish to fry with his employers back in London over the coming months, but, for the moment, silverware remains an ambition for Damien Duff, while a 50th international cap, a rare achievement in Irish football, will become a reality tonight at Lansdowne Road where Ireland take on another of the international game's most highly regarded nations.
Rather typically, the Dubliner was nowhere to be seen at the Irish team's north Dublin base yesterday, although rumour had it that the occasion had been marked with a rare television interview. Those who thought a couple of years back that moving to Chelsea might seriously impact upon the winger's previously understated approach to life as a footballer clearly must know by now that they really needn't have worried.
In his absence Brian Kerr once again found himself, for the benefit of the press, heaping praise upon a player he has worked so closely with for almost a decade now.
Duff might have cause to be grateful for the faith the Ireland manager has shown and the guidance he has provided during that time, but as he spoke it was hard to avoid the conclusion that the coach, too, appreciates the part the player's talent has played in his own progress at a few key moments since the pair's first really significant outing together, the Youth World Cup in Malaysia back in 1997. "I think he's been immense," he said. "And for somebody so young to reach 50 caps still seems amazing when you think of someone like Chris Hughton getting 53 in an international career that lasted 13 years.
"His performances in those games, though, have been fantastic. His workrate and honesty, the fact that he's always prepared to do whatever is required for the team, they're the things that are great about him and right now he's at the very top of his game."
Chelsea, reckons Kerr, has been good for Duff, who had seemed less than certain about the move when he arrived in London during the summer of 2003. "I think when he went there he felt it was going to be hard for him to get in the team on a regular basis given the sort of players they have been buying over the last few seasons. It was a big challenge but he's risen to it. Eighteen months on he hasn't just survived, he's a top-rated player.
"He has become stronger since then, more mobile and there's more of an acceptance now that he can play on either side. Some people wanted to get a chain and attach him to the left-hand touchline, but there's a lot more to his game than that and he's had the chance to show that now."
Quite where he gets to ply his trade tonight remains to be seen, although with Robbie Keane, Clinton Morrison and Andy Reid also all confirmed starters it seems to be no more really than a question of which side each of the wingers starts the game on.
Kerr was less forthcoming regarding other areas of the pitch but he did say that the team would be very close to the strongest available to him at present which suggests that Shay Given, Steve Finnan and John O'Shea will be involved from the outset.
Central defence and midfield look slightly harder but with the manager observing that Andy O'Brien is currently "the man in possession" and that Kenny Cunningham's place is not seriously in doubt, it appears that 2004's highly effective partnership will kick off the new year in spite of the fine form shown of late by Richard Dunne at Manchester City.
In midfield, Roy Keane's absence creates one vacancy while doubts about Kevin Kilbane's fitness may yet prompt Kerr to pair Matt Holland with either Liam Miller or, more likely, Graham Kavanagh in the centre. Everton's Kilbane said on Sunday evening that he felt okay despite having taken a few knocks in Sunday's game with Southampton. The fact he has not trained since might suggest, however, that neither he nor the goodwill of David Moyes back at Goodison Park will be risked for too long.
That, however, still leaves Kerr with a strong side to face the Portuguese, although whether it's quite strong enough will depend, at least to some extent, on how seriously the visitors apply themselves over the 90 minutes.
Figo, Rui Costa and Fernando Costa may finally be gone while Maniche, Miguel, Ricardo Carvalho and Costinha are all absent through injury, but Luiz Felipe Scolari still has an abundance of talent with which to work, a fact underlined by the quality of the starting line-up he named prior to the squad's run out at Lansdowne Road last night.
The visitors will stick with the 4-2-3-1 formation employed through the European championships with Tiago and Petit toiling in central midfield as Simao, Deco and Ronaldo all look to provide support for the lone striker, Pauleta.
Last summer, at least, it made for an exciting brand of football and Scolari's side clearly possesses the capacity to test Kerr's in every area of the pitch. With both coaches fielding such strong teams it should, at the very least, be interesting, although how it will end is difficult to call. Portugal's free-scoring form in their last two games and the grey skies over Dublin both suggest the possibility of a repeat of that best forgotten night at the Stadium of Light almost 10 years ago where the home wide won by three goals to nil. Ireland's recent record, particularly at home, however, points to something very different altogether.
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND (probable): Given (Newcastle Utd); Finnan (Liverpool), O'Brien (Newcastle Utd), Cunningham (Birmingham City), O'Shea (Manchester Utd); Reid (Tottenham), Holland (Charlton Ath), Kavanagh (Cardiff City), Duff (Chelsea); Keane (Tottenham), Morrison (Birmingham City).
PORTUGAL: Ricardo (Sporting Lisbon); Ferreira (Chelsea), Caneira (Valencia), Jorge Andrade (Deportivo La Coruna), Matias (Vitoria); Petit (Benfica), Tiago (Chelsea); Ronaldo (Manchester United), Deco (Barcelona), Simao (Benfica); Pauleta (PSG).
