Trapattoni calls on Boys in Green to show they’re men

AS it was in the beginning is by no means necessarily how it’s going to be in the end.

Before his side played Ireland in the first game of European Championship qualifying last September in Yerevan, Armenian manager Vardan Minasyan had no hesitation about painting his players as callow underdogs.

“It’s a strong group but the favourites, for me, are Russia andIreland,” he told visiting Irishjournalists. “Then Slovakia andMacedonia, who are also strong teams. To beat a strong team is a very good achievement for us, because it gives us confidence.”

Well, confidence must be brimming over for the Armenians by now since, despite losing on that first night 1-0 to a Keith Fahey goal, Minasyan’s young side have grown up in public to become one of the most in-form sides in European football thanks a startling run of high-scoring results which now sees them come to Dublin looking for the three points which would put them into the play-offs and send an entire nation into raptures.

As Aiden McGeady put it yesterday: “Banana skin is something that applies to smaller teams. Before this campaign you would have said Armenia were a team we should beat. But they’vesurprised everyone the way they’ve played and they’re top scorers in the group by a long way. We’re notcomplacent because they’re very good.”

Under ultra-cautious GiovanniTrapattoni, Ireland have hardlyundergone anything like that sort of radical transformation but themanager believes that a stealthydevelopment in his team’s character — as exemplified by that run of eight clean sheets — will prove decisive for the home side tonight.

Put simplistically, in a game between men and boys, the Italian is confident his seniors will prevail.

“This is a game in which we can show our maturity,” he said yesterday. “I am confident we can achieve the result by using our experience. We have grown well. Against Armenia, our fans will be important but we must not get carried away about ‘go, go, go’. Yes, we want to win in front of our fans, in our stadium. But we can’t all go forward on the attack. We can score with intelligence but we must keep our position. We can’talways do what the public wants.

“You have seen games where there are 18 players in the final 30 metres — that means 80 metres of the pitch is free.

“I remember, against Italy (in the World Cup qualifier in Dublin in 2009), we conceded a late goal on the counter-attack. We must pay attention to that. For our players, this game is a test of our maturity, character and personality. We must not do what other people want, we must do what we want. That is maturity.”

Reviewing notes from 13 months ago in Yerevan, one is reminded that the Armenian manager got hugely excited before the game when he wrongly interpreted a question as meaning that Robbie Keane was out of the Irish team.

Well, belatedly, Minasyan has gotten his wish, with Trapattoniyesterday springing a selection surprise by opting for Simon Cox ahead of Shane Long as a partner upfront for Kevin Doyle in the absence of the injured skipper. Cox has seen only a total of just over 20 minutes of action in the Premier League this season whereas Long has hit the groundrunning, scoring three times for the same club in his personal return to the top-flight. Indeed, Cox revealed earlier this week that he was surprised even to be included in this squadgiven his lack of game time at the Hawthorns.

None of which seems to bother Trapattoni, who sprang a similarsurprise for the away game against Macedonia and was rewarded with an impressive performance by thenovice. Yesterday, he was notinclined to go into too much detail about the reasons for his choice,saying that tonight’s game would prove whether or not he’d made the correct decision. But, under some more interrogation, he allowed that Cox was “similar to Keane” and, like the captain, could be relied on to drop back and help out in midfield when required.

“Long is different, fast on the counter-attack,” he added, “and may be more effective when the opponents are tired. We will have two strikers on the bench in case the gas runs out.”

On the impact of the loss of Ireland’s record goal-scorer, Trapattoni said: “Our team is not dependent on one player. There are others who can score. It’s not like Portugal and Ronaldo. Our strength is our group, our team.”

When the manager added that“only the result will show if I have made the right choice”, he could as easily have been talking about itsimplications for his entire reign as Ireland manager, given that a defeat tonight would be sure to rule out any chance of an extension to his contract.

But the Italian didn’t want to get drawn into any of that yesterday.

“Every game is a test for a manager,” he said. “All that matters is the result.”

And, given that this is Ireland, one feels certain that tonight’s result could hang in the balance right up until the very end. The home side are certainly capable of getting the minimum point required to go into Thursday’s play-off draw but hard-earned experience tells us that, first, a gut-wrenching, nerve-jangling 90 minutes lies in store.