NOT QUITE the win that Giovanni Trapattoni had said on Monday night he felt his team might be capable of achieving but it was no great surprise after last night’s draw at the MSK stadium that the veteran coach was relieved not to be heading home empty-handed. He was, he insisted, proud of an improved performance by his players.
“You asked me yesterday whether the team could produce a good reaction and I think the team showed us tonight that they wanted to win the game,” he said. “The team did very well in the first half and we could have finished the game with the penalty. The second half was even, both teams had chances to score again – Robbie could have scored – but we should have scored twice in the first half and if we had then I think we would have won the game. We deserved to win.”
Trapattoni suggested that he might have considered resting his captain because he had looked tired in the lead-up to the game but his options were narrowed by injuries to other players, most obviously Kevin Doyle. With Liam Lawrence also missing it left him with no choice but to make changes in key areas but the Italian said that the performances of those who came in were perhaps the most satisfactory aspect of the night.
“It is important that Shane Long and Keith Fahey played great games and deserve congratulations for their performances,” he said “I think they will take a great deal of confidence from their displays and that will stand to them and us in the future.”
Neither, though, had been able to make a decisive difference as Ireland again conceded from a set piece with the defending clearly leaving a fair bit to be desired as Jan Durica headed home the locals’ equaliser.
“I had a fear about the corners and free kicks of our opponents and we conceded a goal like this. It was disappointing but our defence played very well. We have time now, the next game will be a friendly game, to look at alternatives and work on some other things
“But I said after the last game that against Slovakia we will be better and the players have shown that I was right tonight. We played well tonight but missing the penalty wasn’t the only problem, I know that some of the players were not 100 per cent, they weren’t in the best condition, players like Kevin Kilbane, Robbie and Shay Given but it was not possible to change them. Perhaps they will all play more now.”
The group, Trapattoni believes, is still up for grabs. “For us, this group is very, very balanced. Maybe today the Russians won but only by one goal after Macedonia missed a penalty. There will be plenty of analysis but over the next year there will be many situations that help to decide what happens in this group. If we are to achieve qualification then we have to believe we can do it and, of course, we have to deserve to do it.”
Slovakia coach Vladimir Weiss acknowledged that the various contenders would now have to wait until the spring to see how the qualification race is going to evolve. “The group is very even and it all depends because they all have good teams, Armenia, Ireland and Russia. It might be a little clearer after the next round of games.”
Asked about events here, he said: “We played better in the second half of the match and we looked to (Stanislav) Sestak to attack Given before he kicked the ball and that worked well because at one stage, he nearly scored.”
