The autobahn to Germany starts here
Brian Kerr is free for the first time to exercise his preferences in terms of selection, formation and tactical approach, relieved of the pressures of having to produce qualifying points.
A friendly match against a team ranked 83rd in the world - fully 68 places behind Ireland - may not in itself be an event of any great moment. Yet this is a pivotal time in Irish football as Kerr begins the process of rejuvenating a team that looked spent at the end of the European qualifiers.
It remains to be seen how long Kerr will have to re-shape the team to his liking, for the draw for the World Cup tournament will be held on December 5 and qualifying matches could begin as early as June next year, but he admitted change was needed after Ireland’s failure to make the European Championship finals.
This will be Kerr’s 11th match in charge.
The fact that he took over from Mick McCarthy after Ireland had played and lost the first two Euro qualifying matches meant his every team selection was compromised until Ireland’s fate was finally sealed by the defeat in Switzerland in October.
Kerr said: “Each of those games we played, every one of them was crucial. Each of the friendly games was played with a view to the next competitive match.
“It didn’t leave much room for experimentation and the bringing in of new and younger players to allow people find their feet. We needed to get results so to some degree what happened is irrelevant now.
“What will be relevant is how much we will improve and how solid and efficient we are when we come to the qualifying games for the World Cup and that is where the focus will be on our upcoming friendly matches.”
It is a curious irony that back in February Ireland looked a class above Scotland as they efficiently handed them a two-goal defeat.
Ten months on and Ireland are watching from the sidelines while Scotland prepare for a visit to Amsterdam tomorrow, the encouragement of a 1-0 win over Netherlands in the first leg of their play-off to support them.
Kerr showed his admiration for the work of Berti Vogts and his team when he said: “Scotland’s advance was an example of team building over a period of time. It showed the benefits of someone having a bit of time to
experiment who was also given time to look through the under-age set-up to identify the players who had the potential, mentality and ability to play at the highest level.
“The manager proved the benefits of that against Holland and it was a great result for them.”
This led the Irish manager to confirm that this match against Canada marked the beginning of the Kerr era. “Basically I inherited a team who played very well at the World Cup and that team for various reasons has started to change a bit.
“It changed a lot after the World Cup when a number of senior players retired but over the period of qualification some of the other players have not played who were key members of the team at the World Cup.”
He was referring to the fact that injuries had robbed him of players who travelled to Japan as fringe players, like Steven Reid, Richard Dunne, Clinton Morrison and Steve Finnan.
He went on: “So now there is the opportunity for other players to take on the mantle of the previous lads who were in the team.
"Of course some of them offer different qualities and different abilities and we have lots of attacking players, attacking midfield players in the group, and I’m sure they will give us something a bit different. Whether it is better remains to be proved.”
It is an opportunity then for some and none more than Graham Kavanagh and Clinton Morrison, both of whom will start the match, for Andy Reid and goalkeeper Nick Colgan, who are certain to be given time on the pitch.
It is just a pity that Liam Miller and Colin Healy were prevented from contributing because of injuries. Their involvement will be part of the team-building process, their ‘freshness’ instrumental in helping Kerr reverse the trend that emerged in the European Championship.
Ireland’s new target is the World Championship finals of 2006 in Germany. And the autobahn starts at Lansdowne Road against Canada.
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