SOCCER:THOSE SUPPORTERS who like their revenge well-chilled will doubtless be hoping that Ireland and France are set on course for reunion when the draw for the group stages of the 2014 World Cup is made in Rio de Janeiro this evening.
In light of events in Paris in late 2009, Giovanni Trapattoni sounded like he’d quite fancy a rematch himself a couple of weeks back and the game would provide a welcome boost to the FAI’s bank balance. In terms of actually making it to the tournament in three years’ time, however, most teams will be hoping to avoid a case of Les Bleus.
The French side’s troubles during the latter stages of Raymond Domenech’s reign is just one of the factors that has shaken things up a little at the start of the world ranking list now used by Fifa as the basis for events like this evening’s.
Russia are now second seeds too and, like Turkey, would also be best avoided. Greece and Norway, though, will be in Pot One tonight along with the likes of Spain, England, Germany and Italy and while they have, of course, earned their right to their top seeding too, they’ll still be viewed by rivals more as potential scalps than superpowers.
Speaking as he named his squad for next month’s game against Croatia – another of the nine top -ranked sides – Trapattoni cautioned against taking any would-be opponent too lightly. The Italian actually used the example of Croatia whose team, he insisted, is built around four or five players of the very highest calibre.
Still, most managers would probably take Luka Modric and co over say, four-times champions, Italy. Not Trapattoni, though, the Ireland manager suggested when asked to weigh up his options. “Our problem is that we’re third seeds and the first is always strong. Spain Germany, the Netherlands, Italy . . .
“But I’d like Italy,” he said with a slightly giddy grin. “We haven’t lost in three games against them so I think they’re good for me. We know their team like we also know France. Also England.”
The rather more conventional wisdom would be that while Norway and Greece are the picks of the top seeds, the likes of Slovenia and Slovakia represent the most attractive of the sides available from Pot Two.
However much they have declined in recent years, Bulgaria and Romania would be viewed as the toughest of the teams in the fourth tier while everybody below that should be pretty beatable for any team serious about its chances of actually qualifying.
In Pot Five, Cyprus would, depending on the date eventually set for the away game at the group fixtures meeting to follow, offer another opportunity for significant number of Irish fans to combine a bit of sun and soccer while also affording the team to atone for its greatest humiliation in recent years.
The Faroe Islands are in Pot Five too thanks to their steady improvement under Brian Kerr’s management and it seems safe to assume the Dubliner would fancy a crack at putting one over on the man who succeeded him.
Thanks to the progress made by the Faroese, Wales now have the hugely dubious honour of being the team that everyone will want to avoid amongst a list of sixth seeds that also includes Liechtenstein, Andorra and San Marino.
In purely financial terms, tonight’s draw should be, as Delaney put it a couple of weeks back, the last for the foreseeable future that is essentially a roll of the dice for the association.
Getting Italy, Germany, England or Spain along with France or Turkey might make qualification a major ask but it could potentially make the campaign itself, the FAI’s most lucrative ever.
Delaney, who is in Rio with fellow officials, Paddy McCaul and Michael Cody, but not Trapattoni, will have to decide whether to hedge his bets and accept one of the offers from third party agents for the foreign rights to all the Dublin games that usually come during the hours preceding a draw or wait and see what hand he is dealt to play afterwards.
