Trap hitting right notes in London encore

TWELVE months ago, Giovanni Trapattoni touched down in London for just his second game in charge of the Republic of Ireland, a largely low-key friendly against Colombia, and duly likened himself to a concert pianist.

“Even they need confidence in themselves,” he said, an early entry in the manager’s anthology of cryptic comments.

Now, on his return to the English capital for tonight’s equally inauspicious friendly with Nigeria, Trapattoni is more brassy than keyboard – as bullish and self-assured as one would expect of a man who has catapulted an underachieving and largely unfancied side into contention for qualification to the 2010 World Cup.

If there were any doubters in the wake of his appointment, Trapattoni has banished them, and emphatically so. He is bulwarked by his results: minor slips, such as the home draw with Bulgaria, have been atoned for immediately and even displays of player petulance, such as Dean Kiely’s huffy walk-out yesterday, can be dismissed with a degree of breeziness.

Trapattoni has been sufficiently liberated by his record to turn tonight’s game into a glorified practice session, an opportunity for his hopefuls to stake their claim ahead of next week’s game in that could all but rubber-stamp a top-two finish in Group 8.

Almost half the starting line-up at Craven Cottage tonight will be tasting international football for the first time, with Kevin Foley, Sean St Ledger, Eddie Nolan, Liam Lawrence and Leon Best all set to be handed starting roles.

Some, such as Foley, St Ledger and Lawrence, are obvious picks whose time could arguably have come sooner. The others could have even the most devoted members of Ireland’s faithful exchanging puzzled glances as they emerge from the Craven Cottage tunnel this evening.

Trapattoni, not surprisingly, makes no apologies for the welter of changes – there are likely to be more first-timers introduced at half-time, including the Coventry goalkeeper Keiren Westwood, the cause of Kiely’s angst – as he seeks to fine tune preparations ahead of Bulgaria.

While the squad will be bolstered next week by the likes of John O’Shea and Darron Gibson, who must be relishing the prospect of banishing the memory of Champions League final defeat with Manchester United, for the lesser lights there remains a tantalising possibility of gatecrashing a World Cup campaign already boasting formidable momentum,

“We need to get a winning mentality in the whole squad,” Trapattoni said. “The opponent is a national team: Nigerian players play in strong European teams, they are fast, quick, strong – they have international experience. They are stronger than Colombia were last year.

“I hope it will be a good opportunity to see the new players and create a good mentality in the squad.”

Trapattoni’s decision to inject fresh blood into his squad may be a signal that he has one eye on the future, but there are certain senior statesmen who are indispensable and when the manager was rattling through his likely line-up yesterday, it was telling that Robbie Keane’s name was suffixed by a nonchalant “of course”.

The Tottenham striker has long been an integral cog of the Republic machine but, in a line-up so callow in years and boasting a rookie Championship striker in Best, he becomes even more precious.

Keane admitted he had hardly seen Best kick a ball in anger this season – no surprise, given there are Coventry supporters who might struggle to pick the 22-year-old out of an identity parade – but the Dubliner is comfortable with the notion of mentoring, having been taken under his wing by Niall Quinn ahead of his own debut against Czech Republic in 1998.

“Niall was great for me,” he recalled. “It was brilliant to have someone like him around – he was always there to put an arm around your shoulder and have a word to help you out. If you had any problems, you could always give him a call and speak to him.

“The senior players always have responsibility but a lot of the youngsters have been around for a while at club level and you have to give them a chance eventually.

“We need a few new faces because they are the future for this country. We have to play them at some stage and guys like Kevin Foley, who has been tremendous for Wolves all season, deserve the opportunity.”

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND (4-4-2, likely): Given; Foley, Dunne, St Ledger, Nolan; Lawrence, Miller, Andrews, Duff; Keane, Best.