The tallest of tall orders

A QUESTION: has an Irish team ever gone into a game as bigger outsiders than the one Giovanni Trapattoni will send into action against Spain here in Gdansk tonight?

The answer is probably yes but only if we go back almost to the dawn of Irish football time, that sepia-tinted era when the players all looked like your old man and footballs were carved from blocks of stone, when matches routinely ended with scorelines like 5-3 and ‘plucky Eire’ was taking its first toddler steps in the big, bad world of the international game.

But in what we might call the modern game? No, I can’t really think of any precedent for this.

The closest we’ve probably come has, appropriately enough, been at the big tournaments. Stuttgart ’88 obviously looms large but, while England were the raging hot favourites going into that game, they didn’t have a cv which comes remotely close to the one which is proudly brandished by the current Spanish national team.

By the time of Euro ’88, 22 years had already elapsed since the English had been crowned champions of the world for the one and only time, thus far. The Spanish team of Euro 2012, it hardly needs repeating, have their eyes set on making history of a unique kind, as they look to claim what they’re calling the ‘trirecord’ – a first-ever triple crown of back to back Euros, World Cup and Euros.

It can’t be overlooked either that the bookies who had Ireland as rank outsiders in Germany were perhaps failing to take on board the fact that Jack Charlton’s squad going into that tournament was loaded with fine players and strong personalities – Paul McGrath, Ronnie Whelan, Kevin Moran, Mick McCarthy, Packie Bonner, Frank Stapleton and, of course, goal hero Ray Houghton to name but a few.

Italy at US ’94 was another big tournament game billed by the watching world as David v Goliath. But I can recall writing a preview for The Sunday Press from New Jersey at the time and not feeling one bit foolishly patriotic in predicting that Ireland were in with a real chance of causing an upset. One factor in my apparently wishful thinking had to do with Italy’s traditional nervy, slow start to tournament play but by far the overriding consideration in Ireland’s favour, I felt, was that the likes of McGrath and Houghton were still big characters for the big occasion, while more recent arrivals such as Andy Townsend and Roy Keane had ensured a continuity of excellence in the crucial centre of midfield.

So, perhaps the most germane comparison with the challenge presented by tonight’s game actually comes from within the span of Giovanni Trapattoni’s own reign as Ireland manager – but not necessarily for the reasons you might think.

There has been a lot of talk since Croatia about the need for this Irish team to rediscover the spirit of Paris which, on the face of it, is understandable. After all, Ireland’s ambitious, attacking display in the Stade de France that night was by some distance the most impressive performance of the Trapattoni era and, indeed, one of the best away showings ever by any Irish side.

Yet, the cruel intervention of the Hand of Gaul notwithstanding, it can sometimes almost seem to be forgotten that Ireland didn’t actually get the win they needed that night.

Hindsight also tells us that, even though that same French side had been able to leave Dublin with a win a few days earlier, Les Bleus were already tipping over into a headlong decline which would reach its nadir with their implosion at the World Cup finals South Africa.

So it’s just a little too simplistic to invoke Paris as a rallying cry tonight. Certainly, Ireland need to deploy all the best qualities from that bittersweet evening three years ago but what they cannot afford to do is risk going gung-ho against Spain from the first whistle

For one thing, unlike Paris, a point will actually do this evening, both as a restorative result and as a means of keeping admittedly slim qualification hopes alive. But more importantly, this Spanish side is set up to pick the bones clean of any opponent which has the temerity to throw caution to the winds – and that includes teams who are altogether more formidable than Ireland.

In any event, we know that this is not and never will be the Trapattoni way. And, for once, his arch-conservatism might be just what the doctor – no, make that the miracle-worker – ordered. The longer Ireland can keep it tight tonight, the better, and if Spanish frustration rises, it could even leave the door open for Ireland to make the most of, say, a corner or free-kick to turn the whole night on its head.

Ah, dear – see what I’ve done there? When it comes to football, fantasy has a terrible habit of getting in the way of reality.

More likely, of course, is that Spain will convert their overwhelming superiority and dominance of the ball into a goal or goals – at which point, Trapattoni will need to be brave, decisive and even prepared to go against his own deeply rooted instincts.

If Ireland are chasing the game in Gdansk, then it really does require something like Paris revisited. And if that chase has to begin earlier rather than later, the manager will need to act fast.

If, for example, Aiden McGeady is double-marked out of the game as comprehensively as he was by Croatia in Poznan, then Trapattoni will have to override his default setting of concern about youth and pressure and inexperience, and spring James McClean.

The winger’s direct, high-energy style can especially discomfort tired defenders, his crossing gets the ball quickly into the danger area and his willingness to cut inside and shoot could pay the handsomest dividend of all.

Giving McClean his first competitive outing in the last chance saloon might appear to stack the odds oppressively against the raw winger, but nothing we have seen from the Derry man so far suggests he would be even remotely fazed by the scale of such a challenge.

Otherwise, tonight is all about this Irish side’s ability to stand up and be counted. They know they didn’t do themselves justice against Croatia; when one to eleven perform at their peak, individually and as a unit, they can add up to more than the sum of their parts.

All logic says Spain will win – and, indeed, the fear must be that, with something of a point to prove themselves after drawing with Italy, they will do so in a way which could turn defeat for Ireland into something bordering on humiliation.

But, as this season in particular has reminded us, football doesn’t always do logic. And sometimes the heart is big enough to claim the spoils. The truly magnificent Irish support out here won’t be found wanting in Gdansk tonight. Our hope is that the team answers in kind.

It’s the tallest of tall orders, for sure, but enough of that for now. There is a game of football to be played, 90 minutes of do or die. The best of luck, Ireland.