SOCCER/N Ireland v Italy:NOTWITHSTANDING Ulster's involvement in a Heineken Cup game on the same evening, there will be a full house at Windsor Park tonight when Northern Ireland set themselves up for another giant killing act, at home to Italy in their Euro 2012 qualifier.
Fresh from their splendid group start last month when they rode their luck to pull off a surprise 1-0 away win against Slovenia, the Northern Irish will hope that the ghosts of history work on their behalf tonight.
The very name, Windsor Park, sends a desperate shiver down the back of those Italian fans old enough to remember January 15th, 1958, the day when a 2-0 defeat by Northern Ireland saw Italy fail to make that summer’s World Cup finals in Sweden. That defeat remains Italy’s worst ever World Cup performance, the only occasion when they failed to qualify for the finals.
Italy have not been back to Windsor Park since so tonight’s game stirs 52-year-old memories.
History aside, this game represents the toughest test yet for new Italy coach Cesare Prandelli, who took over from 2006 World Cup winner Marcello Lippi immediately after Italy’s ignominious first round exit from this summer’s South African World Cup.
This will in fact be just the fourth game in charge for ex-Fiorentina coach Prandelli, whose Italy lost 1-0 to Ivory Coast in an August friendly before beating both Estonia (2-1) and the Faroe Isles (5-0) in their opening qualifiers last month.
Leading the Italian attack tonight will be Sampdoria’s Antonio Cassano, Italy’s “enfant terrible” who was controversially omitted from the South African squad by Lippi.
In an anticipated 4-3-3 line-up, Cassano will be flanked by AS Roma striker Marco Boriello and Juventus attacking midfielder, Simone Pepe.
In goal, there will be the relatively unfamiliar figure of Bologna goalkeeper Emiliano Viviano, called in to replace the regular number one choice, Gigi Buffon, currently injured.
Prandelli is taking a very pragmatic approach to this game, one in which he shows no sign of underestimating Northern Ireland, saying yesterday: “We’ve had a good study of our opponents. They work hard, they have the crowd behind them and they often perform above themselves. We’ve got to be careful not to get caught up in a physical game and a hostile atmosphere, we’ve got to beat them with our quality and our tactical organization.”
Inevitably, Prandelli’s opposite number, Nigel Worthington, hopes Northern Ireland can again perform “above themselves”, pointing out yesterday the will to battle and to run are obviously his side’s strong points.
“This is a magnificent occasion for us. We cannot afford just to be good in one game, I’m looking for consistency after our great win in Slovenia. As our supporters’ song goes, We’re not Brazil, We’re Northern Ireland. We’re not about tricks and flicks, we’re about big hearts, great fitness and commitment, that’s what produced the great result against Slovenia”.
Worthington, who lost two players, Celtic’s Paddy McCourt and Preston midfielder Adam Barton, from his original squad, is likely to field a side very similar to that which pulled off that shock win in Slovenia.
Striker David Healy, so often a hero for Northern Ireland, is expected to lead the attack despite being currently seriously under-employed by his club Sunderland.
Warren Feeny of Oldham may partner him in a 4-4-2 line up in which Fulham’s Chris Baird is expected to play a pivotal, midfield defensive role.
Baird, of course, made headlines for all the wrong reasons last month when his family home in Rasharkin, Co Antrim survived a petrol bomb attack in which no one was injured.
Stories like that, of course, will give Italy all the more reason to pause for thought before tonight’s game.
PROBABLE TEAMS
NORTHERN IRELAND (4-4-2): Taylor; McCauley, Hughes, Craigan, Evans; Brunt, Baird, Davis, McCann: Feeny, Healy.
ITALY (4-3-3): Viviano; Cassani, Bonucci, Chiellini, Criscito; De Rossi, Pirlo, Mauri; Pepe, Borriello, Cassano.
Referee: Tony Chapron (France)
