THE ROLLER-COASTER nature of football could hardly be lost on Lars Olsen (51), the former Danish international who is now manager of the Faroe Islands.
If the game’s tales of the unexpected are ever collected into just one volume, then the very first chapter is sure to contain the story of how the Danes, having failed to qualify for the European Championship in 1992, ended up winning it, with Olsen as their captain.
Rather more recently he was Denmark’s manager of the year after guiding Randers to the cup but barely a year after being nominated for the award a second time in the wake of a second-place league finish with Odense he was fired. Another year on and he was touching down as an international manager in Tórshavn for the very first time.
It is no great surprise then when he laughs at being asked if the Faroe Islands can further upset the Irish apple cart tonight and, conceivably, bring the curtain down on one of European football’s greatest management careers. The scale of the Republic of Ireland’s defeat at the Aviva Stadium was a shock to Giovanni Trapattoni and his players; so does Olsen go into tonight’s match believing his side can deliver another? “Of course,” he says with a smile.
Olsen is aware Trapattoni is under pressure in the wake of Friday’s five-goal defeat in Dublin but the former defender is anxious not to say anything that might be used against his colleague by the media.
“When you lose 6-1 at home in a country like Ireland, of course you will be under pressure. I was surprised, not by Germany winning, but 6-1; it’s a big victory . . . or defeat.”
His own side rarely lose badly these days and he believes that having achieved some good results under his predecessor, Brian Kerr, they are making progress on a number of fronts now.
“We played in Iceland,” he says, “and we could have had a draw there – it was a chess game – and then we lost 3-0 in Germany, but maybe that’s not so bad after what we saw two days ago. Then we played a very good match against Sweden, so we have confidence and the gap is maybe a little bit closer than before the games.”
Olsen claims that the switch to staging home games on an artificial surface will help his players to improve although he admits that it can be good, too, for the visitors, a part of the equation that Kerr has suggested made the move a bad one.
“He wants to play on bad pitches, I know that,” Olsen says, smiling again. “I look a little bit differently at the games. It’s very important for the players to improve themselves and develop.
“I would like them to keep the ball a little bit more and if you don’t have okay pitches, its very difficult to play in that style, so I think it’s good for us. But yes, of course, it’s also good for the opponent.”
In the case of Ireland, he insists, Friday’s game will be a bigger factor. “Yes, I expect a team which will try to make it better. I read some websites in Ireland where players were saying it’s the most important game for Ireland this season, the game against the Faroe Islands, so I am sure they will come and 100 per cent try to make it better from the last game. We know Ireland are the favourites tomorrow, as Sweden were, but we will try to do our best.”
