Soccer:Shamrock Rovers will resist calls to move next week's high-profile Europa League qualifier with Juventus to the RDS, preferring to back themselves in front of their passionate home support at the Tallaght Stadium.
As the scramble for tickets started today – the Rovers website went down for a number of hours as it struggled to cope with the sheer volume of traffic – chairman Jonathan Roche confirmed the match will remain in Tallaght, but he has requested a special dispensation from Uefa to erect 3,000 temporary seats at the venue and bring capacity to 9,000.
Roche is “confident” the request will be granted but as it stands Juventus are entitled to 300 tickets (five per cent of capacity), with the remainder likely to be snapped up quickly, soon after sales details are released tomorrow morning.
Rovers have 3,500 members and season ticket holders who are entitled to at lease a ticket each for next Thursday’s game. For the return leg in Modena, they will receive an allocation of 1,000. The number would have been greater had the Stadio Olimpico not already been booked out by U2 and their 360° world tour.
The match will instead take place some 300km down the Autostrada at the Stadio Alberto Braglia, the home venue of Modena, with a capacity of just 19,000.
Rovers already stand to make in excess of €400,000 over the two legs from gate receipts and television rights, and that figure will rise should they succeed in increasing capacity at Tallaght Stadium.
Michael O’Neill’s side secured the dream fixture with a 1-0 win over Bnei Yehufa in Tel-Aviv on Thursday.
Tommy Stewart’s strike 20 minutes from time ensured a 2-1 aggregate win but few will expect them to navigate a route past the two-time European Cup winners. Nevertheless, they might be heartened by Juve's struggle to strengthen their defence after their seventh place finish in Serie A last season.
"The priority is to see if there are players who can improve the defence," coach Luigi Del Neri said today after ruling out a move for Wolfsburg forward Edin Dzeko on the grounds he counted playmaker Diego as a second striker and was happy with five frontmen.
On Rovers, Del Neri added: “The next round in the Europa League is not a given because we’ll be playing 11 against 11.
“We saw at the World Cup with New Zealand that they could create physical problems. To face a tough team from a tough league like the Irish one - nothing is already decided.”
Juventus forward Davide Lanzafame has admitted the trip to Dublin will be a voyage into the unknown.
“Seeing the length of the trip, it is better to travel to Ireland then to Israel,” he told Juventus Channel. “We do not know Shamrock Rovers, however, and therefore we have to study them through videos.”
Lanzafame, who spent most of last season at Parma on loan from co-owners Juve and Palermo, believes they are building well for the coming campaign.
“We are improving and now that the internationals are back we are working very much on tactics, adding new elements to our targets and we will be ready for the friendly match against Lyon and the Europa League match.
“We need time (to be a team). At first you get to know each other and get used to one another but to become a team you need months of work.”
Damien Richardson, meanwhile, has named the 18-man squad and seven-strong standby list ahead of the visit of Manchester United at Aviva Stadium on August 4th.
“August 4th is a big day for Irish football,” said Richardson today. “The opening of the new stadium is hugely important for the development of the game and I am delighted that the Airtricity League will be central to such an historic occasion.
“I have selected a strong squad for the match against Manchester United. There is plenty of talent in the Airtricity League and I faced a difficult decision in reducing the numbers down to 18. I am very much looking forward to getting out on the training ground with the players as we prepare to represent the Airtricity League against such a big club as Manchester United.”
Airtricity League squad (V Manchester United XI):Gary Rogers(St. Patrick's Athletic), Gerard Doherty (Derry City), Brian Shelley (Bohemians), Ger O'Brien (Sporting Fingal), Ken Oman (Bohemians), Gavin Peers (Sligo Rovers), Conor Powell (Bohemians), Conor Kenna (St. Pat's), Paul Keegan (Bohemians), Shaun Williams (Sporting Fingal), Alan Kirby (Sporting Fingal), Joseph Ndo (Sligo Rovers), Richie Ryan (Sligo Rovers), Stephen O'Donnell (Galway United), Killian Brennan (Bohemians), Paddy Madden (Bohemians), Karl Sheppard (Galway United), Ryan Guy (St. Pat's)
Standby list:Peter Cherrie (Dundalk), Alan Keane (Sligo Rovers), Patrick McEleney (Derry City), Dave Mulcahy (St. Pat's), Ciaran Kilduff (UCD), Pádraig Amond (Sligo Rovers), Fahrudin Kudozovic (Dundalk).
