Kerr’s lack of options shown up by Swiss
It is this: To thrive in any international match, we must work to exhaustion.
It is a fact of life that the Republic invariably suffer by comparison with opponents in the skill elements of the game. Continental opponents tend to be more comfortable on the ball, more adept at controlling it, more versatile in their use of it.
Their passing tends to be more smooth and more slick, their ability to stitch together movements involving one-touch rotation of the ball more natural to them.
All of this must relate to their training in their formative years, must have been developed from their introduction to the game at primary school level and their development through the age groups.
Anyone who has seen a foreign international team at underage level will testify to this.
To watch Germany at underage level, for example, is to witness a more juvenile illustration of the type of football favoured by the German World Cup team. If you dressed them up in shirts of any colour they would still be identifiably a German team.
At every age level Germany would be ahead of Ireland in the niceties and the subtleties of the game, their individual technical ability on another level. Ireland have successfully competed against such opponents because they have bridged the gap by making good use of their natural resources.
Ireland invariably compete well, organise efficiently and work hard. There is such a thing as the Irish ‘spirit’ and we have seen further evidence of that in the rugby World Cup.
This spirit and a willingness to work harder have served Ireland well. They contributed to Ireland’s excellent performances in the soccer World Cup, most notably when they survived a torrid play-off game against Iran in Tehran.
The same intensity of effort or concentration was not evident against Switzerland and it is impossible to identify why. After their achievements in the World Cup, these players must be keen to build on that.
Yet they were unable to generate the same passion against Switzerland and theories as to why that should have happened abound.
One influential factor that has not been highlighted sufficiently was the impeccable planning of the Swiss. They did to Ireland what Ireland have been doing for donkey’s years to opponents.
Switzerland clearly had studied Ireland’s play on video. They identified the little elements in their game-plan that help to influence the flow of a game and countered them with typical Swiss efficiency.
The paid particular attention to Ireland’s wingers, Damien Duff and Kevin Kilbane. They also made it difficult for Ireland to find centre-forward Robbie Keane.
In this regard Switzerland were as clinical as Spain were in Ireland’s final World Cup tie. Spain, troubled all night by Duff, brought Mendieta into their team as substitute and despite his considerable attacking ability, they assigned him a defensive role.
His job was always to get between Duff and the Irish player seeking to pass the ball to him. If you study the video you will see how consistently Mendieta forced Ireland’s midfielders to turn away from Duff in that critical 30 minutes of extra time.
The Swiss applied themselves to the job of curtailing Ireland’s few attacking players with the same effectiveness. Finding a system and the personnel to operate a system that will mean Ireland’s attacking options are not so limited are just two of the many challenges Brian Kerr must face over the next twelve months.
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