Wales v Ireland, Uefa Nations League, Thursday September 6th, Cardiff City Stadium (7.45pm ko)
Martin O’Neill has held up James McClean as an example of the particular team spirit his players possess, with the manager revealing that the winger was still talking about the possibility of being involved Ireland’s opening Nations League game as he was being taken away for treatment after breaking his wrist in training on Tuesday.
“I sometimes think we have that siege mentality,” said the manager at his pre-match press conference in Cardiff. “James is a loss for us; no question. In the World Cup qualifying campaign he became a big figure for us and scored some very important goals. (Then on Tuesdy) he broke his wrist in two places and as he was marched off to the hospital he was talking about getting a plaster-cast and trying to play in this game. That tells you about his desire to play for the Republic of Ireland.
“So whatever we have, we will give everything we possibly can during the match.”
O'Neill's plans for game suffered yet another setback as Alan Browne was ruled out by a calf injury.
The Preston midfielder joins a long list of injury related absentees that includes James McCarthy, Robbie Brady and Shane Long while Declan Rice and Harry Arter have declined to be a part of this squad.
“In terms of preparation, with the recent injuries to McClean and young Browne having a calf problem, he was okay a couple of days ago but seemingly he’s in a wee bit of trouble - it’s not ideal in that sense.
“We’re hoping to get as much out of it as we possibly can, though. We have a couple of new players coming in and we might have a debut in the starting line-up.
“The competition itself has a bearing on the European Championships later on and while I think there seems to be a feeling that nobody totally understands what it’s about, we’ve got the gist of it. Instead of the play-off situation for the third team in the groups, this particular competition has taken those places. From that viewpoint, it’s important.”
O’Neill said he is unsure how the situation with Denmark will develop between now and their game against Wales in Aarhus on Sunday but, he acknowledged, he will be unhappy to see the home side field a mix of players drawn from the country’s lower leagues.
“If it does develop like that, there will certainly be a degree of unfairness about it,” he said, “and I think everyone would accept that’s the case. If they do not play the top players it would give a massive advantage to the Welsh.”
