Soccer: Giovanni Trapattoni is hoping to be drawn against one of the co-hosts when the Euro 2012 groups are revealed next month. Ireland are seeded fourth ahead of the tournament in Poland and Ukraine, who are ranked first alongside Spain and the Netherlands.
Speaking on the morning after his side secured qualification for a major tournament for the first time in 10 years with a 5-1 aggregate win over Estonia, the manager admitted he is keen to avoid world and European champions Spain and the Dutch, in the group stages, at least.
The co-hosts are top seeds, despite being the lowest ranked sides in the competition. Poland are 28th in Uefa’s coefficient rankings, while Ukraine are next in line in 15th, one ahead of Ireland. Europe’s top 13 make up the remainder of the 16-team field.
“Obviously we are fourth seeds, our ranking ensured that. Spain, Italy, England, Germany and the Netherlands - I really want to try and play against these big teams and to do so our players must believe they are on the same level as them.
When pressed on who he would prefer from Pot One, he admitted: “Maybe Ukraine or Poland”, while he added it would “great satisfaction” to face his homeland, who are in Pot Two with England, Russia and Germany, having seen his side beat them 2-0 in a friendly in Liége in June.
He continued: “But what is important that we don’t have any injuries or suspensions. We are not Barcelona, we’re not Real Madrid, or any of those other famous teams, but international football is different and we are a team that the players believe in.”
The manager insisted there are no worries about his contract and indicated he has been privately assured the FAI want him to remain at the helm.
“It’s a long time that we have this agreement with the FAI, we always said that we didn’t want to pressure them until the qualifiers were over,” he said. “What we wanted to know was whether there was a willingness to continue and once we were sure of this, which we are now, there is no timeframe.
“We are all responsible people and we have clarity. We know that if we hadn’t qualified things might have ended differently, but now things are clear we don’t need to speed it up.”
The Italian will not be making any dramatic changes to the squad when selecting his players for the tournament, but he did say veteran Kevin Kilbane is unlikely to be involved unless there are injuries to Stephen Ward and, perhaps, John O’Shea.
“We know our players but there are two, three or four more that we know the names of. Strikers, we usually need four, but some strikers can also play out wide on the right or left too,” he said, before mentioning Simon Cox. “But the midfielders and defenders are more important because they are more subject to fouls (suspensions). More or less the squad for yesterday, this is the squad.”
Asked whether 110-cap veteran Kilbane was in his plans after being invited to Dublin to watch last night’s 1-1 second leg draw, he replied: ““Not for the moment. It was an honour to have him here yesterday and I know he is an option but we also have to move forward and continue our work.”
Trapattoni was also questioned as to what his policy would be for players wishing to spend time with their families and partners during the tournament.
“It’s possible for the player to see their families and relax but when we need to work with them, we must do it together. We can improve but we need the time.
“Where is the sacrifice in playing football? It’s a game.”
Euro 2012 seedings
Pot 1: Poland, Ukraine, Spain, Netherlands
Pot 2: Germany, Italy, England, Russia
Pot 3: Croatia, Greece, Portugal, Sweden
Pot 4:Denmark, France, Czech Republic, Republic of Ireland
* Poland already allocated to Group A, Ukraine already allocated to Group D.
