GIOVANNI TRAPATTONI took a moment yesterday while out at the launch of a book about Swords Celtic’s first 50 years in football to confirm that he has a couple of injury concerns ahead of his announcement at roughly 3.30 this afternoon of his squad for the European Championships.
The manager, however, is still expected to go easy on the surprises at the Aviva stadium when he unveils his preferred travelling party of 23 and handful of players who will be placed on stand-by.
Keith Fahey’s failure to return for Birmingham City on Friday night and Darron Gibson’s absence from the Everton team yesterday are clearly concerns for the manager but neither injury is believed to be serious enough to keep them out of the Euros and the Italian will presumably have been seeking assurances from Kevin Foley that the same can be said of the hamstring problem that ruled him out of Wolves’ scoreless draw with Everton yesterday.
The bulk of those already on course for a place on the plane to Poland, however, appeared last night to have come through the weekend in good shape while one or two on the margins, Ciaran Clark and Paddy Kenny made late cases for inclusion with a goal and clean sheet respectively.
Overall, it wasn’t a bad day for the Italian with the likes of John O’Shea, Stephen Kelly, Shane Long, Kevin Doyle, Stephen Hunt and Damien Duff all seeing 90 minutes of action. Keith Andrews was taken off 16 minutes from the end of West Brom’s draw at Bolton, though, while Simon Cox got on for only the last nine and Seamus Coleman was an unused sub.
Most of the attention this afternoon will still focus on midfield where Paul Green and James McCarthy appear to be competing for what is, if the all regulars do make it, one slot in the squad.
The identity of the player who Trapattoni suggested last week has told him he cannot travel, meanwhile, remains a mystery. Prompting a lingering suspicion that it might yet turn out to be one of the group’s more marginal members, a Sunday newspaper quoted the father of one of the more plausible mainstream candidates Aiden McGeady as insisting that it is not his son.
“It’s not Aiden,” said John McGeady on Friday according to the report. “I just spoke to him. He’s back to his best form as well, and the rift with his manager is sorted.”
The former Celtic star did feature as Spartak secured a 3-2 win at champions Zenit St Petersburg. Ireland’s other big export, Robbie Keane, played 90 minutes for LA Galaxy on Saturday as the team lost for the second time in succession, this time to New York Bulls, again without scoring.
Keane, of course, is certain to make the squad along with a long list of regulars but there is some concern Trapattoni might damage future relations with some of the peripheral players that he is leaving behind but who he may well need in the future with the likes of Clark, Coleman and McCarthy prominent on the list.
“There’s no easy way of doing it,” acknowledges Gary Waddock who was dropped late in the build -up to Italia 90 by Jack Charlton. The former QPR player admits that the news came as a terrible blow although he finds it easier to see Charlton’s side of it since he moved into management himself.
“The manager’s got to make a decision then live or die by that decision,” he says. “There are two sides to it. The manager’s supposed to be loyal to the players who have got him to the tournament and at the same time he has to pick the best possible squad to play there. In the end that’s the most important factor, though, he has to pick the strongest squad.”
Still, he feels that it is important that someone in Trapattoni’s position deals sensitively with the players he keeps on describing as “ones for the future,” if he really wants to be able to get the most out of them later.
“Yeah, it does (matter). It’s important but at the end of it all if it’s a ‘no’ then it’s a disappointment. Jack told me that the answer was no and I was disappointed. But, yeah, it makes a difference. Some managers will try to explain the reasons behind the decision and others will just let you down.
“He has to make his decision, though, and live or die by it. It really can’t matter that much that players will be disappointed or people will disagree. Everyone would pick a different squad.”
Juventus defender Giorgio Chiellini insists, meanwhile, that the Italians would all be cheering for the Irish if only they weren’t group rivals. “I just hope we can put a halt to Trap’s gallop,” he says in an interview in World Soccer magazine. “I’ve never had Trap as a coach but he remains a legend of Italian soccer. Destiny is strange. We faced Trap’s Ireland in the last World Cup qualifying round and they gave so much bother and now we meet them again in the European finals.
“Of course, we didn’t want to meet him. We’ve lots of respect for Trap and his team, while it’s obviously very special for him to play against Italy. The fact is that we would have been supporting him and Ireland like mad – if only they were playing in another group.”
Republic of Ireland 23 (probable)
Goalkeepers
Shay Given (Aston Villa), Keiren Westwood (Sunderland), David Forde (Millwall)
Defenders
John O'Shea (Sunderland), Richard Dunne (Aston Villa), Sean St Ledger (Leicester City), Stephen Ward (Wolves), Kevin Foley (Wolves), Stephen Kelly (Fulham), Darren O'Dea (Celtic)
Midfielders
Keith Andrews (West Brom), Glenn Whelan (Stoke City), Paul Green (Derby County), Darron Gibson (Everton); Damien Duff (Fulham), Aiden McGeady (Spartak Moscow), Stephen Hunt (Wolves), Keith Fahey (Birmingham City)
Forwards
Robbie Keane (LA Galaxy), Kevin Doyle (Wolves), Simon Cox (West Brom), Jon Walters (Stone City), Shane Long (West Brom)
With James McClean (Sunderland) waiting in the wings.
