They’re all cup finals now, says Trapattoni

SIX games down, four to go and still sharing top spot in European Championship Group B — but Giovanni Trapattoni has warned that the stakes only get higher for his Irish team from here on in.

“Every 90 minutes is a final now,” he said yesterday after the squad had arrived back in Dublin in the wee hours from Macedonia.

“I need only no injuries to players because our squad is complete. Can we win the group? I think it will be easier to answer this question after the next two games. We are now first in the table with both of them and the winner might only be decided on the last day (when Ireland host Armenia at the Aviva on October 11).”

Buoyed by the goals and clean sheets of the last three games, Trapattoni made it clear that he intends to stick with the players who now form the backbone of his squad.

“We have already 25, 26 or 27 players,” he said. “Now we give priority to those who played and who achieved the results in the Carling Nations Cup and Macedonia. I don’t forget also (Darron) Gibson or (Marc) Wilson but obviously they have to earn their place.”

The James McCarthy debate is bound to resume next season but, for now, Trapattoni is happier to extol the virtues of players who he feels have gone beyond the call of duty by expressing a desire to stay with the squad for the final game of this season, the friendly against Italy in Liege, Belgium, tomorrow.

“This is important,” he said. “For example, I asked (Aiden) McGeady if he wants to go back to Russia and he said, ‘no, I stay’. We also spoke to Stephen Hunt and, even though he has a little bit of an (achilles) injury, he says ‘no, I stay’. Also (Glenn) Whelan has a swollen ankle. The doctor says he must be careful. And when we ask if he wants to stay, he says ‘yes’. This is the commitment to our shirt. This shows us they are keen to play.”

Robbie Keane is one of a handful of players who has been given permission to skip the game in Belgium, “a reward” smiled Trapattoni for his landmark goalscoring performance on Saturday.

“I am happy for him,” said the manager, “because before yesterday I said to Robbie you must be responsible about your injury. He promised me and what I saw in training the day before the game convinced me.

“His record? Only the great players could have this record because they can smell a goal. They are intuitive and creative. There are not many, it’s typical of the great players. And all the great players are proud. Robbie wants to play. And it was this willingness which produced such an important performance on Saturday. That is typical of the proud players, the great players, the champions. They have this mentality.”

The travelling party for Belgium today has been reduced to 19 but, this time, the missing are absent with the management’s complete blessing.

As well as Robbie Keane – who reported after Saturday’s exertions that his groin was “hanging off” – the departures include Shay Given and Kevin Kilbane, who are starting coaching courses, Keith Fahey with a swollen knee and John O’Shea whose wife is expecting a baby.