Trap plays the Green card

By close of play in the Friends Arena here in Stockholm tonight, we will know a little bit more about Giovanni Trapattoni and, in particular, whether there’s method to his madness or madness to his method.

In confirming what this week’s training sessions in Malahide had strongly suggested — that Paul Green would get the nod ahead of James McCarthy to partner Glenn Whelan in central midfield — the manager has either made a wounding rod for his own back or effected an unlikely but inspired tactical coup.

Only the 90 minutes of action this evening will tell the true tale but it’s safe to say that, going into the game, not many outside the Irish camp will share the manager’s confidence in the rightness of his selection.