Trap: It’s time for action

JUST hours to go now before kick-off in the World Cup play-off against France and, to judge by the escalating noises emanating from the Irish camp, the stakes just keep on getting higher.

Early in the week, Richard Dunne described the games as “two cup finals”. Then Liam Brady likened them to “a European Cup semi-final”. And now Giovanni Trapattoni has called the play-off “our World Cup final”.

The Irish manager came before a packed eve of match press conference in his best twinkle-eyed form. He began with an apology to the French media present, saying “I don’t speak French.” Then, with a knowing nod to the more familiar faces in the room, he added: “I don’t also speak English.”

Seated beside him, Robbie Keane joined in the laughter. “One day before the game, it’s possible to smile,” said Trapattoni. “I hope also to be smiling after the game.”

And, with that, it was time to get down to business. “We have said many words about this game,” the manager noted. “Now we must move from words to action and put into practice what we have said.”

Normally, Trapattoni prefers to look forward rather than back but, in setting the scene for tonight’s big game, he opted to recall the last time the Irish met the French in a World Cup qualifying campaign, when Brian Kerr’s 2004/5 team drew in Paris but went down 1-0 in Dublin.

Trapattoni’s point, it seems, is that Ireland have a score to settle.

“Ireland could have secured qualification then, except (Thierry) Henry scored a very beautiful goal,” he said. “So this match for us will be a new opportunity to beat France, especially for the players who played the last time in Paris – like (Damien) Duff, (John) O’Shea, Robbie and Shay (Given). And, of course, for our young players, it is another great opportunity.”

Trapattoni is looking for more of the same attitude and spirit which Ireland have shown in going unbeaten through the latest qualifying campaign but, in the death or glory circumstances of a play-off, he accepts that something extra will be required.

“Every player must add something more to his performance over 180 minutes,” he emphasised.

“We must avoid nervousness. In an important game, in my experience, many players lose their calm. We need to keep a cool head.”

The cool heads the manager turns to tonight will be the same as the ones who did battle with Italy in the penultimate game of the group – though it goes without saying that Trapattoni won’t want to see a repeat of them losing their cool like they did in the dying moments of that tumultuous 2-2 draw.

The only doubt for the manager yesterday was whether to start with Liam Lawrence or Aiden McGeady on the right flank tonight. “Players play differently for the team, have different qualities,” he said. “I have to decide which is better for the first one.”

The odds are, however, that the Italian will reward Lawrence’s impressive performance against the Azzurri with a start against Les Bleus and then trust that McGeady’s pace and freshness can breath new life into the Irish cause in the closing stages.

“In this game, it is not enough that the 11 play,” said Trapattoni. “It will be 12, 13 or 14 players. The last 30 minutes, for example, are important. The French full-backs (Bacary) Sagna and (Patrice) Evra might be tired after one hour.”

But Trapattoni, correctly, is not confining his plans to just 90 minutes. For once, this is a situation where the old mantra of taking it one game at a time goes out the window. In a two-legged affair, it’s unlikely that – barring a collapse of major proportions – either side will carry a wholly decisive result from Dublin to Paris.

Hence, the critical importance in Croke Park tonight of the home side keeping the visitors scoreless, whatever about scoring themselves. A 1-0 win would be a massive bonus but 0-0 – while a perfectly acceptable result in a normal away game – would put the French on the back-foot on home soil, with only the Irish capable scoring a goal which could be worth two in the Stade de France on Wednesday. All speculative stuff, of course, and Trapattoni knows that the full picture will only become clear next Wednesday.

There was plenty of wit, wisdom and the usual dollop of eccentricity to Trapattoni’s own performance in Malahide yesterday.

One moment he was quoting a “philosopher” in what seemed to be a reference to the famous lines of prayer which ask for “the serenity to accept the things you cannot change and the courage to change the things you can”.

Then, with a wink, he was telling us that “a leetle detail” had decided the outcome of the Italy-France World Cup final in Berlin three years ago.

And when an Italian journalist present pointed out that Azzurri boss Marcello Lippi had wished Ireland well tonight, Trapattoni shot back: “That’s because he does not want to meet France in the finals.”

Time, as Trapattoni says, for the laughing to stop.

Now it’s all about trying to ensure that Lippi’s wish comes true.