SOCCER/Rep of Ireland v Australia: Though the people who work at selling us their booze might like to perpetuate the laddish national stereotype, when it comes to football there's little doubt that the Australians have an increasingly cultured look about them these days.
Their predicament back at home, where they lack the sort of opposition they crave and the sort of games that would provide the rest of the world with a measure of their improvement, has made their progress difficult to gauge in recent years but February's win over England in London convinced most, although not FIFA, that they have finally become a force to be reckoned with.
Keen that his side maintains the unbeaten record it has managed since he took over at the start of the year, Brian Kerr made clear yesterday that he would start this evening's game at Lansdowne Road with very close to what he considers to be his strongest Irish side. Equally determined to leave Dublin with another notable, though not nearly so prized back home scalp, Australian boss Frank Farina suggested yesterday that his starting 11 should bear much more than a passing resemblance to the line-up that stole the show at Upton Park.
Even Kerr admitted yesterday to being slightly surprised with the strength of the squad he has to choose from ahead of this evening's kick-off. Of the 23 men he named two weeks ago all but two have turned up, obliging the Dubliner to call back rather than call up a couple of players he had warned to be ready.
The Ireland manager gave little indication yesterday of what his team for this evening's game would be but did confirm that Nicky Colgan would start a senior international for the first time in his career.
These are slightly strange days for Colgan, the 29-year-old who endured a long and unrewarding time at Chelsea before flourishing at Hibernian where he has, nevertheless, been made to feel unwanted again.
Despite that, the departure of Alan Kelly and Dean Kiely have moved him up to number two behind Shay Given in the international set-up and having moved to Stockport County on loan last week he is now in line for his fourth start in just 10 days.
"I don't view playing Nicky in goal as experimentation," observed Kerr.
"Shay is the number one and will probably come on at some stage while Joe Murphy's day will come. We need to be practical here and if we want Nicky to be in a position to start big competitive games in the future then he has to have the experience and this will help him."
Otherwise, Kerr said that he would anticipate fielding something close to his strongest side although he said he would wait until late last night before making his mind up on whether to start Clinton Morrison up front, while he hinted that Sunderland players Kevin Kilbane and Gary Breen might be less than 100 per cent fit after taking knocks at the weekend while playing for their club.
If he takes the opportunity to rest one or other of them there will be opportunities for others to press their claim for starting positions with Andy O'Brien the most likely beneficiary of Breen's absence in the centre of the defence and Steve Finnan or Colin Healy heading the list of possible midfield replacements for Kilbane in the event that Duff is switched back to the left flank. He admitted that the very different experiences of his various players during the past week and a half, with some of them playing three times and others not at all, would play a part in shaping his final selection, although he made it clear that he did not feel Duff's workload over the past six days with Chelsea merited the 24-year-old spending the early part of this evening on the bench.
Farina, meanwhile, looks certain to start with Mark Viduka and Harry Kewell up front, a partnership that will provide a particularly interesting test for the Irish defence after the relatively straightforward challenges presented by the Albanians and Georgians.
In February, against England, Viduka was central to setting up Australia's third goal for Brett Emerton, who looked exceptional on his premier league debut for Blackburn at the weekend, and the almost casual way in which Kewell brushed Rio Ferdinand aside and then scored from close range also illustrated well the sort of threat this evening's visitors can pose.
In no other area of the pitch is Farina as well served as up front but there are players of considerable ability throughout and Irish skipper Kenny Cunningham admitted yesterday that he and the other Irish players are conscious that this is a team with the potential to cause another upset in Lansdowne Road.
When asked, meanwhile, about the tendency of a section of the Dublin crowd to boo players with connections to Scottish champions Rangers and whether he expected Kevin Muscat to suffer on this occasion the Australian manager looked bemused by the thought. "Kevin's a loveable lad," he said, "and I'm sure that everyone will take to him straight off."
POSSIBLE LINE-UPS
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Colgan (Hibernian/Stockport Co); Carr (Tottenham Hotspur), O'Brien (Newcastle United), Cunningham (Birmingham City), O'Shea (Manchester United); Kinsella (Aston Villa), Holland (Charlton Athletic), Kilbane (Sunderland); Duff (Chelsea); Keane (Tottenham Hotspur), Morrison (Birmingham City).
AUSTRALIA: Schwarzer (Middlesbrough); Neill (Blackburn Rovers), Popovic (Crystal Palace), Vidmar (Cardiff City), Lazaridis (Birmingham City); Emerton ( Blackburn Rovers), Skoko ( Genclerbirligi), Okon (Leeds United), Chipperfield (FC Basel); Viduka (Leeds United), Kewell (Liverpool).
