Duff claims Irish ‘need to be get nasty’ to be successful
Any admiration for Israel’s ability to salvage a crucial point at Lansdowne Road has been largely lost in the bitterness over their spoiling second half tactics. Seven Israeli players found their names in the Greek referee’s book by the game’s end, but it was goalkeeper Dudu Awat for whom Irish fans reserved most of their bile.
Back in 1973, the unorthodox methods of the Polish keeper Jan Tomaszewski frustrated England on a famous night in Wembley. Brian Clough may have labelled him a ‘clown’ on the back of that, but the bottom line was that his saves that night meant it was the Poles who would go to West Germany the following year and not England.
Ireland hopes Awat’s contribution doesn’t prove that momentous. “Maybe we are too nice,” said Duff. “Look at Israel in the second half, they just killed the game. Maybe we need to be more like that at times. We just let them back in with two silly goals and that’s the story of our campaign so far.
“For a few years now, I don’t know, we just don’t kill off games. We should be more like Israel were in the second half slowing things down, diving and what have you. We need to be nastier at times. It’s about time we started learning from these kind of things.”
The Chelsea player’s admission might not rest well with the purists, but it was perfectly understandable after he finished beating his fists on the Lansdowne Road turf in sheer frustration.
As for his opinion on Awat himself, Duff was slightly diplomatic, his anger seemingly tempered by the fact that the Racing Santander stopper’s two saves from both himself and John O’Shea in the second-half were straight out of the top drawer.
“He practically got them a point single-handedly so fair play to him in that way, but the way he went on leaves a lot to be desired. Still, he’s got them a point.”
Awat wasn’t the only man to feel the scorn of both Irish public and team on the night. Referee Kyros Vassaras’ decision to award a penalty against O’Shea was the most critical of a series of curious decisions.
When asked his thoughts on the official, Robbie Keane was one of a willing chorus of players to go along with that particular view. “Well, you asked me that question so you obviously think he was poor. The lads think he was poor as well. I went into the dressing room after I came off so I didn’t see a good bit of the game, but some of the decisions he made in the second half were poor.”
Afterwards, there was a consensus that, even though Ireland had again conspired to snatch a draw from the jaws of victory, it would be churlish to berate Brian Kerr’s side too much for their efforts.
After all, this was a game where they created more than enough opportunities to win and when else have we ever witnessed a game where one team has, not one, but two penalty appeals waved away in second-half injury time as Clinton Morrison and Duff had in the 90th and 97th minute?
“Looking back, we could have been playing till now and we still wouldn’t have scored,” said Gary Doherty who had two good chances himself. “But during the game I think we all felt it was going to come with the amount of chances we were getting and free kicks around the box. I thought it was going to be a certainty.
“You have these ups and downs. It is a bad result for us. The last 20 minutes we were the only team in it, creating loads of chances but it didn’t go in and that’s something we have to live with now. It’s a point. We haven’t lost or anything. They’ve not beaten us. We’ve gotta take the positives now and bring them forward to the Faroe game.”
French coach Raymond Domenech left the ground with a stone-faced expression that betrayed nothing of his emotions, though you suspected that, inside, his stomach was doing somersaults of delight.
Doherty insisted that nothing had really changed in the group, though Duff was less circumspect when asked if it left Ireland needing 12 points from their last four games.
“We probably do. We seem to play better under pressure but we should have won (on Saturday) so it feels like a loss again just like in Israel. We were desperate for six points coming into these games and we’ll definitely have to get three on Wednesday.”
