Trapattoni wants it even more now
The manager has always made clear that he wants to stay on in the role after the current European Championships but, following Saturday night’s draw in Brazil, he now says that the presence in Ireland’s group of Germany and Austria —countries in which he enjoyed success at the helm of, respectively, Bayern Munich and Red Bull Salzburg — makes the prospect of leading Ireland into the 2014 qualifying campaign even more enticing.
“Of course,” he says, speaking from his home in Milan where he watched Saturday’s proceedings in Rio.
“Having won titles in both Austria and Germany, there would certainly be a sense of pride for me personally to lead the Republic of Ireland out against these teams from countries that I know very well. Even though they’re not my nations, the fact that I’ve spent so much time in them both means it’s not a million miles away from going up against Italy – and you saw our record there. That’s a source of personal pride as well.”
Overall, Trapattoni is enthusiastic about a draw which pits Ireland against Germany, Sweden, Austria, the Faroe Islands and Kazakhstan.
“I think this is a good group for us,” he says. “I think, with this group, we can dream of success. With all of these teams we know that we are their equals in every sense. The only exception to that would really be Germany who are a very strong team, so we know there’s a threat there. But I’ve said many times before that the standards in international football are much closer now. When you think of our performances against the likes of Brazil and Argentina, it’s clear that there’s no reason at all why we can’t perform against a first seed.”
For all that, Trapattoni still expects that, as is customary by now, the Germans will be involved in the business end of things in Brazil in three years’ time.
“There are so many factors in international football these days — things like fitness and injuries — that can all have a big impact,” he says.
“But just looking coldly at the number of players they can call up, and the quality of those players, then theoretically yes, you’d have to rate them as one of the potential finalists.”
As to when Ireland would ideally face Germany in the course of the campaign, Trapattoni would prefer if it was only when his players already had plenty of game time under their belts.
“Mid-season is when you’d ideally like to play them,” he suggests.
Clarity on that issue could come as soon as late next month when, according to FAI boss John Delaney — who met with German officials immediately after Saturday night’s draw in Rio — it is hoped that the Group C fixture meeting will be held in Frankfurt.
Delaney has also welcomed the draw as giving Ireland a very good chance of qualifying for Brazil 2014.
And, from a financial perspective, the presence of Germany in the group is another notable plus.
The FAI boss had previously characterised this campaign as “a last roll of the dice” in terms of European football associations negotiating their own television deals before the new centralised system kicks off from 2014, an agreement under which the FAI will reap €40 million over four years. And, in light of the latest draw — and even with Germany on board — Delaney is still happy that the guarantee is more rewarding than the gamble.
“We’d be better off under the UEFA settlement for TV rights, absolutely,” he says. “I don’t think there’s any draw, at the moment, that would get us €10 million a year. So we’ve done very well with the centralised TV rights.
“But in terms of a last roll of the dice, this is good financially because it would give us what I would reckon would be about €6 million above our current contracts. It also gives us a big team (Germany) coming to Dublin so in terms of selling out the Aviva and selling season tickets that’s more than helpful. Sweden is also good.”
The FAI boss confirms that, that taking into account all sources of revenue including advertising, TV rights and gate receipts, Ireland’s 2007 European Championship game at Croke Park against Germany generated a profit close to €10 million.
“I think Germany from the point of view of television rights are probably the biggest draw in European football,” he says. “And also their supporters tend to travel in decent numbers as well. You’d expect them to take up their 10% allocation at the Aviva.”
By contrast, the Green Army will scarcely be travelling in big numbers when time comes for Ireland to visit Kazakhstan.
“We’ve been to Kazakhstan before with the women’s team so we’ve had experience of travelling there in the past,” the FAI boss points out. “The reality is that, as we found with Armenia, you’re going to get distant countries in a European draw as well as ones closer to home. For the supporters travelling, I think Germany and Austria, as the two central European countries, will be the pick for them”.
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