Ireland look to Big Ron in Rio
That’s the Brazilian Ronaldo, of course, the striker they called ‘O Fenomeno’.
The now larger than life legend will assist rising star Paulo Henrique Ganso in taking care of the European section of this evening’s draw, which will take place at approximately 8.15pm Irish time, an hour and a quarter into full proceedings at the Marinia da Gloria in Rio.
Irish interest on the spot will be represented by a three-man FAI delegation including Chief Executive John Delaney. Having initially toyed with the idea of travelling out to Brazil for the draw, manager Giovanni Trapattoni has opted instead to monitor proceedings from his home in Milan.
By contrast, a number of other high profile international managers will be there in person, including Mano Menezes (Brazil), Fabio Capello (England), Laurent Blanc (France), Cesare Prandelli (Italy), Guus Hiddink (Turkey) and Vicente Del Bosque (Spain).
A total of 53 European teams go into tonight’s draw for allocation to eight qualifying groups of six and one of five. Ireland will be in Pot 3 which means that the fellow seeds they can’t draw in qualifying are Switzerland, Israel, Belgium, Czech Republic, Bosnia, Belarus, Ukraine and Hungary.
Among the glamour opponents who could come Ireland’s way are any one of World Cup finalists Spain and Holland, as well as their fellow first seeds Germany, England and Italy. Giovanni Trapattoni has already said that he would be happy to have another crack at his homeland or even our old friends France — and, indeed, both are live possibilities ahead of the draw since France are seeded in Pot 2.
Another intriguing possibility is that the present Irish manager could come up against a former one, should Ireland happen to draw the Faroe Islands who have graduated to fifth seeds under the stewardship of Brian Kerr.
From the point of view of making qualifying life easier for Ireland, at least on paper, Trapattoni would hardly complain if his team found themselves pitted against first seeds Norway, a surprise inclusion in the top flight considering that they have not qualified for tournament finals since Euro 2000.
But FIFA’s coefficients now concentrate on results from the past four years which means that, according to their rankings, the top nine teams in Europe going into this evening’s draw are Spain, Holland, Germany, England, Portugal, Italy, Croatia, Norway and Greece. France are in the second pot, which also contains Montenegro, Russia, Sweden, Denmark, Slovenia, Slovakia, Turkey and Serbia.
Ireland, currently ranked 33, are in Pot 3.
Best Case: Norway, Slovenia, Albania, Faroe Islands.
Trapattoni’s men would fancy their chances of a play-off place at the very least if they got this as the only five-team qualifying group.
Worst Case: Spain, France, Scotland, Macedonia, Iceland. A return to Paris, scene of Thierry Henry’s infamous handball in the World Cup qualifying play-off in 2009, would offer a chance for revenge, but qualification is surely Ireland’s main priority.
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