SOCCER:WHEN EX-PAT international managers get together the challenges peculiar to the country they work in must, one suspects, feature in their conversation. Dick Advocaat, for instance, might express his surprise that a derby game between CSKA and Spartak Moscow could have been scheduled for the weekend before two of Russia's biggest matches in this European Championship campaign.
The games tend to be on the lively side and in this one Brazilian forward Wellington clattered into Igor Akinfeev with such ferocity Advocaat’s first choice goalkeeper will, it is expected, be out not only for the qualifiers against Macedonia and the Republic of Ireland over the next week but for something in the region of six months.
CSKA general manager Roman Babayev was moved afterwards to describe the South American as a “complete scumbag,” and, when asked about fans of the club swearing revenge upon the striker, acknowledged he should probably be more careful about his personal safety on the city’s streets.
Giovanni Trapattoni, as it turns out, has some concerns about the well-being of Ireland squad members out on the streets after dark too.
In his case, though, the potential threat has at its heart the players’ liking for the odd beverage and late night which, he said, he had brought up at a meeting before the game against Croatia.
“I read the newspapers and I asked the players if it (the story of a late night altercation between a senior player and FAI staff member) was true or not,” he said.
“Up until that I point I had trust in my players but when I read about this once, twice or three times, I said: ‘Uh oh, be careful’ because never in Italy or Germany have I had this situation.
“I told the players to: ‘Ask me and I can allow you out and at 11 o’clock you can come back’. But they are kids, they don’t think about the eventualities. And we have a great responsibility for these players. If they are on the street and a car hits them, what happens?”
If he asks around there should at least be a few people who have been knocking around the FAI long enough to confirm we have in the past learned what happens when it is the international players who hit the car.
Trapattoni initially brought up the players’ behaviour without any prompting but the topic was revisited several times over the course of his first press conference of the week, in part because there seems to be little at this stage to be concerned about on the fitness front.
Shay Given, he insisted, will travel to Dublin at some stage today having stayed on at Aston Villa for an extra day in order to work with the club’s medical staff on the back injury he sustained in Saturday’s draw with Wolves.
Robbie Keane is also due in from the United States today and Keith Treacy was expected to arrive last night because his son is ill.
Seán St Ledger, Richard Dunne, Darren O’Dea and Shane Long will all be fine by Friday, the Italian suggested, despite the four having sat out some or all of yesterday’s training session with minor knocks the FAI’s medical staff reckoned would benefit from rest at this stage of the week.
The manager was, needless to say, pleased to have so many of his first choice players available to him ahead of a game against Slovakia which, he said, Ireland really must win.
He expressed satisfaction, though, that his options have continued to grow in recent months as players have staked their claims to places in his side with their contributions to a solid run of results and performances.
The team has, in particular, started to develop the sort of defensive base Trapattoni has always craved, with his men having equalled the all-time Irish record of five successive clean sheets last month.
Inevitably, the issue of who will complete the back four on Friday came up but the Italian gave no firm indication either way, sounding neither completely persuaded by Stephen Ward’s case, nor determined to go with the more experienced Kevin Kilbane.
In the wide midfield positions there seems little doubt that after declaring Aiden McGeady “100 per cent” fit yesterday, he will select the Spartak winger and Damien Duff.
Stephen Hunt, meanwhile, may or may not take some consolation if he misses out from the 72-year-old’s assessment of his value to the side yesterday.
“In the past I was slightly surprised that he wasn’t taken into consideration as much as he should have been,” he said. “He is one of the very important players for us. He plays well and the fans like the mentality of these players like Gattuso and Paul Green.
“They haven’t the style of play. They are not good players but they are very important. For us last season in every game I asked why he plays always for his team. Why? Because the manager understands his quality.
“He’s not McGeady, he’s not Duff. But he is always present. In the football there are two situations, when you have the ball, and when you don’t. Like Arsenal and Manchester United. We need to take this ball. Stephen Hunt is an important player.”
There you have it.
