Albanian team on bonus of €100,000 to beat Ireland
The Prime Minister Fatos Nano yesterday offered the players a bonus fund of €100,000 to beat the visitors. In a county which is generally regarded as the poorest in Europe, where the average monthly wage is 50, that represents a substantial gesture which fits perfectly with the rising tide of football ambition.
Albania's historic 3-1 win over Russia on Saturday has fired hopes of a first major championship qualification in the former Soviet nation. It would be easy for Ireland to dismiss such lofty hopes as fantasy but to do so would be to ignore a number of significant facts.
The recent appointment of the distinguished German coach, Hans-Pieter Briegel, has impacted hugely on the self-esteem of the players and Albania now can employ a bigger army of overseas professionals then ever before with squad members operating in Greece, Belgium, Germany, Turkey, Romania and Italy.
The dominance of the overseas-based players is indicated by the presence of only one player from the local league in the team full-back Ardian Aliaj of Tirana.
The host nation is however, expected to be without Edvin Murati of Iraklis in Greece, who is
injured, but they will expect one of the heroes from their win over Russia, Igli Tare, to again figure on the scoresheet as they try to build on their success.
Ireland too have been buoyed by their success from their difficult assignment against Georgia and by the return of Robbie Keane. He is certain to be accommodated at centre-forward but we will have to wait and see how manager Brian Kerr juggles his forces after all 11 players who figured against Georgia impressed.
Ireland's good form in Tbilisi was such that it would not have come as a surprise had he kept Keane in reserve for a second half introduction, particularly in view of the trauma of losing his father last week, but all of the signs yesterday indicated that he will be back in his regular position.
"When I ran club teams if we had two matches close together I always liked to have freshness in the team," Kerr said yesterday.
"When I had the international teams in Norway last year when we played the under-age finals we had to play Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, four games in seven days.
"We liked to have freshness in the team from game to game, irrespective of performance. We played very well in some games and I still changed the team for the next match if I believed it was best for the team," he said. When there is a longer break between the matches is less important to change it around."
If Keane is to be recalled then Gary Doherty is the player most likely to lose out. The big centre-forward did well against Georgia even if his lack of genuine ball-playing skills was occasionally highlighted.
He was strong, committed and brave and he was very important to Ireland's game plan, quite apart from producing the winning goal. But Ireland looked so solid in defence against Georgia I suspect Kerr and his coach, Chris Hughton, will not want to disturb the balance they achieved there.
Kevin Kilbane was a wonderful support for John O'Shea at right-back and Lee Carsley was typically hard-working and honest in his approach to his task in front of the excellent Stephen Carr.
Ireland were delighted with the quality of the playing surface when they trained yesterday in glorious sunshine on the match pitch. The heat and humidity meant they will return to the pattern they developed at the World Cup when they had to take on water at regular intervals during today's game.
The obvious togetherness they showed in the World Cup was again evident and Kerr reviewed his short time in charge:
"All of the players have been very comfortable with all the staff, not just me because there were a few changes and they've accepted that and accepted the new group. It was a somewhat seamless change-over in many ways from Mick's time."
He said he had been hugely encouraged by the players response and particularly by the form against Georgia, in trying circumstances. "Ireland were really disciplined in the game, apart from the yellow card for handball against Gary, we were so disciplined. The morale and our strength of character became obvious when we were able to go on and win the game He reviewed the progress of the competition when he said: "The results on Saturday night opened up the group for Georgia, Albania and Ireland even though Georgia lost the match.
"They are still in contention because they have played only two games and if they can beat Switzerland then they will have some bit of a chance with a couple of home games still left.
"We will have our hands full because their win over Russia gives Albania a chance, they have four points from three games, one ahead of us.
"A win over us would put them in with a right chance and we will have to guard against that and take the three points we need to boost our own prospects," he said.
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