SOCCER:IT MAY be forgotten quickly in some quarters but Stephen Ward admits the Carling Nations Cup will always have a place somewhere in his heart. More established players may have preferred to skip it but the tournament offered the Dubliner an overdue chance to fulfil his dream of playing for the Republic of Ireland at senior level and the early signs are that he has successfully grabbed it with both hands.
Kevin Kilbane seems well placed to return for Saturday’s game in Macedonia but having played two and scored one from left-back in his absence, Ward is firmly on Giovanni Trapattoni’s radar and the 25-year-old is more than happy to take things from there, regardless of what happens in Skopje.
“I’ve got my chance and that’s what I’d been dreaming of,” says the down-to-earth Wolves defender who could earn former club Bohemians €50,000 by triggering a clause in his transfer deal if he manages to get on for 15 minutes or more in the European Championship qualifier.
“There’s been a lot said about the competition (the Carling Nations Cup), and the strength of it,” he says. “But for me, the Northern Ireland match goes down as my international debut. It was a proud moment for me, I had a lot of family there and I enjoyed every moment of it. The important thing now is to capitalise on it. I don’t want to go down as a one-trip wonder and if I get a chance to be involved in any way on Saturday then I’ll certainly be ready.”
Few players, it must be said, could claim to offer a manager more options and just as that has stood to him at Wolves so it could yet unlock the door to quite a few more opportunities at international level where Trapattoni has had to chop and change at times.
Asked where he has played for Mick McCarthy this season, he rattles the positions off: “Left-back, central midfield, right midfield, left midfield, in the hole and up front.”
Sometimes he seemed to manage about half of them in one game. From McCarthy’s point of view that makes Ward something of a treasure, Wolves’ answer to John O’Shea you might say, but there has been the suspicion the 25-year-old’s failure to make an international breakthrough prior to this has been partly attributable to the fact he was not more closely associated with just one position.
“People ask about it a lot,” he says, “but I certainly see the ability to play in different places as an advantage,” he insists.
In any case, having started out as a striker, he sees himself first and foremost as a left-back these days having played 42 of 48 games there for Wolves in the club’s promotion-winning campaign a couple of years ago.
He showed he still knows how to put a chance away, of course, scoring against Northern Ireland and in late December at Anfield he scored the winner for Wolves although he admits he was only able to derive maximum satisfaction from the strike in recent weeks, when he knew the goal had also played an important part in keeping his side up.
“Survival Sunday, the relief of staying up in the Premier League, was the biggest thing really but on a personal note the winner at Anfield was a dream come true: a lot of my family and friends are Liverpool fans so it was all a bit special, but in a way I could only fully appreciate it once the club was finally safe.”
And staying up means he will, having caught the Italian’s eye, be well placed to stay in Trapattoni’s line of sight after the summer. He is, he says, more than happy with his lot just now, it’s been a good season. But there is still Skopje and then Italy in Liege next week: two more games to make a highly satisfactory year even better.
