Le Guen lauds spirit of Ireland

Well, at least there is one prominent football man who thinks that Ireland set a fine example in Kazakhstan last Friday.

When Oman manager Paul Le Guen was asked yesterday if he’d seen video of the near humiliation for Giovanni Trapattoni’s men in Astana, he answered in the affirmative and then proceeded to accentuate the positives of the late, late show which produced Ireland’s miraculous escape.

“The Irish team have the habit of playing together,” the Frenchman said. “They have great spirit. Even when they were in some difficulty, they were able to gel and get a very good result. They have great fighting spirit, a great team spirit. I think for us, it is an example and I will tell the players to follow this example.”

Admittedly, this could be interpreted as something of a back-handed compliment, given that Le Guen’s team are rated 93rd in the world — but then again that has the team from the Arabian Peninsula almost 50 places higher than Kazakhstan in the FIFA rankings. Oman, who have never made the World Cup finals, are in a tough qualifying group with Australia, Japan, Iraq and Jordan for Brazil 2014. Their most recent result was a creditable scoreless draw at home to Australia, and Le Guen maintains that his young side is getting better by the month.

Alongside the manager at the press conference at Craven Cottage yesterday, was the international face of Omani football, Wigan Athletic’s Ali Al-Habsi. For the goalkeeper, tonight’s game has special significance — not only is it his country’s first ever game in London, but it’s taking place at the ground where, playing for Bolton against Fulham, he made his first appearance in English football. And he remains, as he pointed out, the only player from the Middle East in England’s top-flight. The Irish player he knows best is, of course, his Wigan team mate James McCarthy.

“He’s very talented, super fit and one of the most exciting players at the club,” Al-Habsi said of the young midfielder. “And for him now to have reached the level of playing for his national team is brilliant. I’m looking forward to seeing him and playing against him.”

When he played for Paris Saint Germain, Le Guen — who also had a spell at Rangers — once went head to head with Giovanni Trapattoni, who was then managing Bayern Munich. “And I won,” he exclaimed. “I don’t know if he remembers me but I remember him.”

Le Guen’s Irish connections are rather more tenuous. Previously linked with the job of Ireland manager, he was enigmatic yesterday when I asked him if he’d actually been approached about the position. “Sometimes in football, you don’t know whether you have been approached or not,” he said. “I don’t know if it was a real approach or not...”

What did this man look like, Le Guen was asked, provoking laughter in the room. “In football you never know, so see you soon perhaps,” he concluded with a grin.

Many a true word spoken in jest?