Pot luck could have been worse

AS FOURTH seeds going into the European Championship draw, Ireland can have few complaints about their pot luck in Montreux.

For rock fans, the Swiss town has been famously immortalised in song by Deep Purple, whose ‘Smoke On The Water’ from 1971 describes how the band looked on from their recording studio alongside Lake Geneva, as a Montreux venue where Frank Zappa was playing a gig caught fire and subsequently burned to the ground. “Smoke on the water, a fire in the sky,” they wailed over one of the most familiar guitar riffs in rock history.

But there were no pyrotechnics in the town’s convention centre yesterday, just a fairly routine draw which saw only two of the European game’s traditional big powers - Italy and France - paired in one group although, as intense rivalries go, Greece and Turkey are bound to make for lively bedfellows atop Group B.

True, there was the prospect of smoke emanating from the ears of the Irish delegation up to the half-way point in the draw, as the eight-team Group A awaited the implanting of its fourth seed. Instead, there was an almost audible sigh of relief from Steve Staunton and John Delaney when luckless Belgium came out of the pot.

By that stage Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Finland had already been slotted in, and the arrival of the Belgians meant there would be no headlines in the Irish papers punning about Stan’s visit to Kazakstan, the capital of which happens to be Astana. Not that too many were complaining.

As Staunton himself reflected: “Put it like this, I wanted anybody but Group A. It’s not just the travel. It’s a double header and it’s a tricky tie.” Add in the fact that the group is completed by no less than three World Cup 2006 qualifiers - Portugal, Poland and Serbia & Montenegro - and you can understand why this was the one to be avoided at all costs.

After that, the only chance of fire in the sky from an Irish point of view was if England filled the final, top spot in Group D. They didn’t, and with their posting to Group E went the prospect of history meeting hysteria at Croke Park next year.

Greece, top seeds by virtue of their status as reigning champions would have been the icing on the cake for Ireland, but the Czech Republic were an acceptable alternative.

Staunton says he rates them highly and, certainly, they will provide a searching examination of his transitional side. However, they would appear to have slipped back from the high of their semi-final appearance in Euro 2004 and are unlikely to have their talisman Pavel Nedved around.

Their progress to the World Cup was only secured via a play-off against Norway. In the group itself, the Czechs finished five points behind Holland and one ahead of Romania.

The presence of neighbouring Slovakia in the group ensures some lively nights in Prague and Bratislava but the Slovaks will also make things hot for the Irish, having only failed at the play-off stage of the World Cup qualifiers when they were admittedly thrashed 6-2 on aggregate by Spain. However, six victories and five draws in that group represented a significant step forward from their under-whelming 2004 Euro campaign.

Although the fixture list for Group D will only be determined when the competing nations gather for a meeting in Frankfurt on February 9, it now looks likely that the first soccer game to be played at Croke Park will see Ireland playing Germany or Wales.

Germany’s emergence as second seeds in the group inevitably raised memories for Staunton going back all the way to “one or two battles” he had with Jurgen Klinsmann when the German manager was a striker at Spurs. Someone asked Staunton if he ever remembered him diving. “Not going there,” he deadpanned.

More recently, Staunton was on the pitch when Ireland secured a deserved 1-1 draw with the Germans in Ibaraki in the 2002 World Cup. But, four years on, the Irish manager isn’t inclined to draw too many lessons from that memorable Irish performance. Except to think that perhaps Ireland can even go one better this time.

“Nobody’s unbeatable,” he says. “As Jurgen Klinsmann says himself, they’re in a period of transition. But that’s his business. We’re in the process ourselves of going down those lines.”

As for the prospect of games against the Welsh, Staunton concedes: “It’s that local derby syndrome. You don’t want to come out second best, more so in those games. Local pride is at stake. But, ultimately, it’s no different to the other games. We know Cyprus are going to be tricky, they were the last time. Slovakia just missed out on the World Cup and the two big guns are going to be at the World Cup so it’s not going to be easy. But it could have been a lot tougher.”

While Irish fans will have mixed feelings about returning to Cyprus - seeing it either as a chance to put things right or an invitation to further suffering - we mustn’t overlook San Marino, whose presence will probably mean a trip to Italy for the Green Army. However Staunton may have had Cyprus in mind when he said of taking on the lower seeds: “They’re the trickier ones, the banana skins which you have to avoid if you’re going to achieve anything.”

Ultimately you suspect the biggest challenge facing Staunton as he contemplates life in Group D is not so much the one that will be provided by the opposition but his own battle to get a transitional Irish team to hit the ground running.

If that process gels quickly, then Ireland can think seriously of qualification; if not, then the Czechs and the Germans could have it very much their own way at the top.

“It could have been a hell of a lot worse - you’ve got to be happy for all the right reasons - travel, fans, ourselves, the players. I think it’s worked out okay.”