AS REPUBLIC of Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni heads to Warsaw today for the Euro 2012 Championship qualifying draw, scheduled to take place in the city’s Palace of Culture tomorrow morning, the blazers in Uefa must wish the veteran Italian was in a position to stay at home.

Three years ago, the joint bid by Poland and Ukraine to stage the tournament only just managed to scrape its way onto the shortlist put before members of the organisation’s Executive Committee for the second round of the selection process.

The eventual winners finished third behind Italy and Croatia/Hungary in the first round of voting but, crucially, one vote ahead of Turkey which kept them in the race. In the final round they crushed the world champions by eight votes to four with the others nowhere to be seen.

In his quieter moments, Michel Platini must wonder sometimes just what he and the rest of the Executive Committee were thinking. He can, at least, take some consolation from the fact that on the eve of the draw for the qualifiers it does actually seem certain that the tournament will take place in the two countries and that each is set to provide the four-match venues they initially committed to.

It hasn’t always looked so likely. At various stages, the Poles have been threatened with losing their share of the event because of political interference in their association and the Ukrainian end of things has looked set to sink into a sea of financial and organisational chaos.

Some 18 months ago the Scots made it clear that they would be prepared to step in should a fall-back plan be required but, somewhat hamstrung by the image he has cultivated as the champion of the underdog, Platini stuck to his guns with Uefa issuing a succession of deadlines, many of which the organisers failed to meet.

With just short of two and a half years to go before kick-off, however, the Poles do have stadiums (enough, in fact, for it to be suggested on more than one occasion that they might host the entire shebang) although they remain well short of where it had hoped they would be in terms of transport infrastructure and hotels.

The Ukrainians, meanwhile, continue to test the nerve of Platini and co with work continuing (a little sporadically) on two of their venues, Lvov and Kiev. Uefa has actually become directly involved in overseeing some of the work but Ukrainian tournament director Markiyan Lubkivskiy recently observed that ongoing funding problems mean that the “implementation of the (Lvov) project is in jeopardy”.

This, despite the fact that some €3.8 million in direct funding has been allocated by national and local government with related spending boosting the figure considerably. Already a couple of the venue cities have been changed and the renovation of Kiev’s massive Olympic Stadium has become mired in legal disputes with contractors.

The problems, of course, have been exacerbated by the economic downturn. In the good times a government can usually sell a major football tournament to sceptics amongst its population as a much needed overhaul of national infrastructure with some matches, watched by an awful lot of tourists, to celebrate all the openings. But when the coffers are empty, it’s all a little harder to defend.

In Poland, where the investment also runs into billions, the only upside of the downturn has been the return of many skilled construction workers from abroad, something that has averted the need to import a replacement labour force from elsewhere as the pace of work on road and rails projects is stepped up.

Uefa and Fifa like to talk about the legacy that these tournaments leave in countries where they have been staged and there is no doubt that the two countries will end up with some very fine stadiums. The Polish clubs that will inherit them, however, attract nothing like the crowds that will be required to make them pay and, once again, deals made with foreign operators at the height of the boom have the potential to become fairly contentious.

As it happens, the bidding process for the hosting of the 2016 tournament starts to get serious later this month when formal proposals have to be handed in for consideration. A final decision is then due to be taken in May and there will be no joint bids on the table this time around.

The expansion of the next tournament to 24 teams has also been a factor in shaping the line-up of would-be hosts and Ireland’s chances of qualifying for a tournament they have only participated in once previously, will improve very substantially when the enlargement takes effect.

In the meantime, though, Trapattoni faces much the same sort of challenge he did two years ago when Ireland were also third seeds for the World Cup qualifying campaign and ended up being drawn with Italy and Bulgaria.

During the veteran coach’s first two years in charge, the team’s performances and results have both been stabilised and having done well to reach the play-offs, Thierry Henry’s handball provided another hard luck story to soften the blow of elimination.

On Thursday, Marco Tardelli suggested he would fancy getting the French again but then thought better of it, insisting: “No, once it’s over, it’s over.” Still, there would be worse outcomes for Trapattoni and his men tomorrow than to be handed an early rematch with what is currently Raymond Domenech’s side.

The real pity of the last campaign is it did not yield enough ranking points to haul Ireland back into the second tier of nations and so, as well as a Spain, Germany or England, we will have to do battle with the likes of Greece, Sweden or Romania.

Five of tomorrow’s second seeds will be at the World Cup finals this summer and few even of the nine in Pot Two could be expected to mount quite as tame a challenge for qualification as Bulgaria did in Ireland’s group last time out. A little bad luck tomorrow and Trapattoni’s second campaign could prove a good deal more challenging than his first.

Having taken over in the wake of the chaotic end to Steve Staunton’s brief reign, the Italian restored composure by falling back upon a fairly rudimentary system. But the expectations of supporters may be a little higher this time and there is little to suggest that the team will be any better. The group is not old but a number of key players are getting older and the terrible lack of depth remains a major concern.

Platini said recently “there are considerable hoops to be jumped through” by the organisers of the 2012 tournament. And the fact is there will be some tricky ones to be negotiated too by Trapattoni and his players if Ireland are to make it to Poland and Ukraine.

QUALIFYING DRAW (On TV: RTÉ 2 tomorrow, 11.10am)

On The Way Out?

AGEING players are not actually a major concern for Giovanni Trapattoni just now although they are likely to be for whoever is in charge for the next World Cup campaign. For the moment, Kevin Kilbane and Steve Finnan are the only two regulars on whom the years are very noticeably catching up.

The Hull City player, who passed the 100-cap milestone last year has just turned 33 and is visibly slowing. The fact that he has made just seven starts so far this season at club level does not help matters and he was reported to have been keen on a move in January so as to secure more regular football.

To be fair, he did well against France in the play-offs while his experience, dedication and character will all count in his favour as Giovanni Trapattoni weighs up his options over the course of the Euro 2012 campaign. But it would be a major surprise if he is still the first choice left back towards the end of 2011.

Finnan, meanwhile, is a year older and suffering on the injury front.

The Portsmouth right back has recently returned to first team action and done quite well but he is not quite so energetic breaking forward as he used to be while the defensive reshuffle conducted in his absence by Trapattoni has not gone too badly. Of those younger players who have featured regularly in squads under Trapattoni, the most vulnerable at present would look to be the likes of Liam Miller, Caleb Folan and Alex Bruce.

Miller has never really fulfilled the promise of his early days at Celtic and he struggled even to get a club at the start of this season. He has been playing well of late for Hibernian but might find himself making way for younger players now.

Folan has been impressive enough when given the opportunity to play for Ireland, most notably in Bari, but his attitude remains questionable and having started just about 100 games in a nine-year professional career, his decision to stay at Hull last month, rather than go to QPR and play is unlikely to help any international ambitions he might have at a time when others are emerging.

Bruce, meanwhile, looks set to be passed out too with his loan move to Leicester and the return to regular first team football it should bring, unlikely to save him.

Others should return from oblivion, though, with Steven Reid virtually a certainty to be a central figure if he stays fit and Joey O'Brien potentially playing his way back into contention if he can shake off a long-running knee problem and recover his form.

Andy Reid may eventually do enough to earn a recall but it seems more likely he will simply get a lot of mentions at Trapattoni press conferences and as for Stephen Ireland . . . Don't even go there.


On The Way Up?

GIOVANNI Trapattoni might have cause to reflect with some satisfaction on the January transfer window when the campaign gets under way in the autumn with Leon Best positioning himself nicely to play Premier League football next season by moving to Newcastle while Darren O'Dea may have made a critical breakthrough at club level simply by staying put.

The striker, who started for his new club against Cardiff last night, looked useful in the run-outs he was given by the Ireland manager last year and his 10 Championship goals so far in the current campaign earned him the move to St James' Park where Chris Hughton reckons he can grow into a major player.

Dubliner O'Dea, meanwhile, suddenly found himself in the Celtic team – even captaining it – after turning down another loan move and he may now regain the momentum with his club that he needs to really challenge at international level.

Others who will be hoping to make a mark next time around include young Everton full-back Seamus Coleman who has made seven appearances, including a spectacular 75 minutes from the bench against Spurs, in his first season at the club despite an injury last summer that threatened to hinder his progress.

James McCarthy has finally started to prosper at Wigan and while the midfielder will have his work cut out to live up to the hype, he has turned in some good performances of late, bagging a couple of goals along the way.

Stephen Ward has been doing well at Wolves too and his versatility is an asset. The former Bohemians player could challenge along with Eddie Nolan for the left-back slot while Belfast-born Marc Wilson of Portsmouth is another possibility for the centre of defence. Slightly further down the line, perhaps, 18-year-old Greg Cunningham from Galway, who made his Manchester City debut a couple of weeks back, could feature there too.

Chris McCann's return to fitness will allow him another chance to impress Trapattoni who was rather dismissive of the Burnley midfielder when asked about him previously while Owen Garvan continues his promising development at Ipswich.

Marco Tardelli's admission that none of the players that became eligible for Ireland under last year's Fifa rule changes have been approached is both a surprise and a disappointment but hopefully something will be done to rectify the situation between now and the end of the summer.

Kevin Nolan's form at Newcastle suggests he might well be a useful addition as would his fellow former England under-21 internationals Gary Cahill, Mark Noble and Jamie O'Hara, if only they would see the light.

More plausibly, perhaps, Simon Cox of West Brom and Preston's Andy Lonergan might end up pulling on a green shirt.