Opportunity comes knocking for Brady and Meyler
For it was on Fulham’s homely patch by the Thames that he made his first appearance for Ireland in a friendly against Nigeria in the summer of 2009 — and barely a week later made his competitive debut in a World Cup qualifier in Sofia against Bulgaria.
Now, Giovanni Trapattoni is open to the possibility that at least one of the newer boys from his experimental side which faces Oman tonight may follow suit in time for the World Cup qualifier against Germany in Dublin next month.
In a wildly unfamiliar line-up, Robbie Brady and David Meyler will both make the senior debuts in midfield against the team from the Middle East while there are rare enough run-outs in the full-back slots for Seamus Coleman and Marc Wilson.
Trapattoni declined to say which of those auditioning this evening he has in mind for a bigger role in the near future, but he has clearly been giving some thought to the matter.
“I have already the idea,” he said, “because I have been thinking about what maybe we can do against Germany. Against Germany I think we need another type of player. Since the game in Kazakhstan, I have already watched Germany on three or four DVDs. We could play three in midfield against them, for example. I know the Germans. I was three years in Germany. We need to think about our opponents, where their strengths are. I have an idea and I must decide do we need this, this or this. We need also offensive players, not only the midfield because we have other possibilities. So it’s true, I wait to see if players against Oman can show me their personality.”
Much of the attention will focus on debutants David Meyler and Robbie Brady, with Trapattoni praising the former’s “good technique and geometry” and comparing the latter to Andy Reid, “but quicker”.
He also noted that the highly rated Brady — an up and coming talent with Manchester United who has already made a goalscoring impact from the wing with the Irish U21s — is not remotely shy and “even a little bit cocky at times”.
The point was echoed by Kevin Doyle, who skippers Ireland tonight.
“Robbie has settled in really quickly,” said the hero of Astana. “There’s no shyness, he’s not sitting back saying nothing. He’s right in the thick of things and that should help him.”
As a former Cork City man himself, Doyle is also delighted to see Sunderland’s Meyler — with whom he watched Sunday’s All-Ireland final — getting his big break.
“He’s been impressive in training and doesn’t look out of place,” he observed. “Knowing the Sunderland lads has made it easy for him to settle and I hope he does well. His comeback from serious injuries shows what he’s all about, apart from his football skill. It shows he should have no problem dealing with whatever comes his way with the Ireland team.”
Meanwhile, Trapattoni responded calmly yesterday to Ciaran Clark’s public questioning of why he isn’t getting a look-in with the Irish squad.
“There are not too many Irish centre-backs playing in the Premier League at the moment, so you would think that would stand me in good stead, but the manager is picking other people at the moment and I have no idea what I need to do to get back in,” the Aston Villa man told ESPN.
“I have not spoken to the manager or any of his staff about what I need to do to catch their eye or anything like that, so all I can do is continue to work hard at Villa and hopefully the situation improves for me with Ireland.’’
Trapattoni, however, suggested Clark simply got stuck in a traffic jam of candidates for a central defensive place.
“We know his qualities but we also have centre-backs O’Dea, Dunne, St Ledger, also John (O’Shea) and against Oman we play Paul (McShane). Also Alex Pearce. He’s another. Unfortunately we can play only 11 players but we follow always all the players.”
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