Planning, plotting and priming
Manager Brian Kerr stressed yesterday, however, that Reid, Miller, and others like them, need not expect to easily dislodge players of established international pedigree.
Kerr is an acknowledged believer in the old adage "if he's good enough, he's old enough" and has always shown a willingness to give youth its head.
He is also a pragmatist and is very conscious of the particular challenge that is presented to newcomers to senior international football.
This is the principal reason why he will be putting pressure on the FAI to set up an intensive programme of eight international matches before the World Cup series.
The achievement of FAI chief, Fran Rooney, in securing Brazil for Dublin on February 18 is that of an official who empathises with Kerr's point of view.
Hunger for success means their ambitions for Ireland are limitless.
Said Kerr: "Matches against Brazil in February and the Czech Republic in March represent a good beginning. I would also like us to play in April and May and I would like a match in Dublin before we go to America.
"That would give us up to eight matches before we start the World Cup series.
"These matches are important because I want to bring on some of the younger lads who are on the fringes at the moment, results are not the primary consideration.
"I'm not talking about bringing young players from underage football straight into competitive senior matches; the players I have in mind are those who were involved in the squad against Canada."
That definition embraces players like Reid and Miller, who pulled out of the Canada squad because of injury, as well as Steven Reid, Stephen McPhail, Joe Murphy, Gary Doherty and the injured Colin Healy.
Kerr elaborated: "It is a very big step from First Division or even Premiership football into international football.
"You are going into competition against a team of elite players and you are not given the time you are used to, even in the Premiership.
"Everything happens at a higher pace and it can take a while to come to terms with that.
"Andy Reid is a good case in point. He did very well for us against Canada but, with due respect to Canada, that match was not what you would expect to encounter in a World Cup qualifying match.
"We'll take the opportunity to have a look at Andy again and the others who were on the bench and have been involved in the squad over the last couple of years.
"It is all very well at club level where you can bring in a new centre-forward and say to him, 'I know you are a good player, you are going to stay in the team for the next 15 games so you can find your feet'.
"That is not the way it works at international level because you are going to have to handle it very quickly.
"It is a big challenge and until you send them out there you have no way of knowing how they will cope.
"The experienced players who are there are all relatively young, there are very few players in Ireland's squad over 30 years of age.
"The aim is to identify new players so we arrive at a balance that will provide us also with some options."
The reality is that Kerr will always have to operate with a relatively small squad of players of the required standard, a problem all of his predecessors wrestled with.
He has shown in less than 12 months that he will tackle this in a distinctive way. He intends taking a process that Mick McCarthy dabbled with a step further.
McCarthy, it will be recalled, experimented at different stages over his six-year tenure with Ireland by temporarily employing a sweeper system, a 'diamond formation' in midfield, and utilising Damien Duff in a variety of roles.
"We don't want to be locked into playing an orthodox 4-4-2 all the time. We want to be able to switch seamlessly into a different formation when circumstances dictate that is necessary."
NEXT up for Kerr is the important meeting with World Cup opponents in Dublin on February 3 to settle on a fixture list. It is an assignment that is occupying more of his mind every day.
"I have been talking to people who were in this situation about how well their plans worked out. I have already talked to Mick McCarthy and I will be talking to Packie Bonner and Chris Hughton as well before I decide what would suit us best.
"I know we will have to trade off but I must decide whether it would be best to play somebody who had been involved in the European finals as soon as possible after that tournament.
"We have done that in the past and I want to make a decision as to whether or not that is the way to go.
"It might have worked in some instances, when we beat Croatia just after the World Cup finals of 1998 for example.
"But then you look at France and their experiences two years ago. They played poorly in the World Cup finals and yet they came out and won their first couple of qualifying matches in the European Championship, so it's one I will have to think about."
Kerr accepted the possibility of having to play some of Ireland's home matches abroad over the next few years: "It would be a bit of a nuisance, a bit ridiculous in this day and age that we might have to play outside the country. We're not being forced over for any other reason other than the unavailability of a suitable stadium.
"I think that would be stupid and I hope it doesn't come to that. If it did come to that I think we'd have fantastic support if we went to Scotland or England.
"People would get there, if we can get 15,000 Irish people going to Cheltenham Races then I'm sure we wouldn't have any bother getting 30,000 or 40,000 for an international soccer match in the north west of England or Glasgow or Edinburgh."
He revealed the extent of the ambitions of the new chief executive, Fran Rooney, and the management team now in charge of Ireland to play against the best teams in the world.
When referring to their planning for the Brazil game he said: "We'd been talking about the games we would like to have and why shouldn't we be playing the top sides in Europe? We have a high ranking in world terms ourselves.
"We're in the top 15 in the world, so why shouldn't we be playing some of the top teams? I suggested to the FAI that there should be a bit more adventurous in the type of opposition we should be trying to get.
"Fair play to Fran [Rooney] that they've achieved in getting Brazil. The February date is a great fixture. I knew the Czech Republic game [in March] was on the cards because we've a very good relationship with the Czech Republic through the underage system.
"The Brazil fixture is an eye-catcher, it's the one that everyone is happy to have regardless of what development stage we're at. To have the World champions in Dublin and to have the previous world champions [France] in Dublin is nice."
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