Ireland seek the higher ground

THE conventional wisdom has it that the last time the Republic of Ireland beat a higher-ranked nation in a competitive international was on that memorable occasion in September 2001 when Jason McAteer’s celebrated strike was enough to see off Holland in a World Cup qualifier at Lansdowne Road.

In fact, though the modest enough achievement tends to get overlooked, Ireland actually repeated the feat at Croke Park six years later in March 2007 when, on one of Steve Staunton’s better days in charge during the Euro 2008 campaign, his team beat a Slovakian side, then ranked a few places above the Republic.

Still, as Ireland prepare to face Sweden in a vital World Cup qualifier at the Aviva Stadium tonight, the fundamental truth remains: the Irish have long-since struggled to come out on top against pedigree opponents when qualifying points are at stake.

There have been a couple of close shaves — 2-2 draws against Italy and Austria, for example — and a couple of occasions when it all went downright pear-shaped, most notably that 2-3 defeat to Russia in 2010 and, as if we needed any reminding, when Germany put Ireland to the sword with a 1-6 hammering in just the second game of the current campaign.

Having regained a good deal of positive momentum since then, Ireland go into tonight’s game with some grounds for believing that the long wait for victory against a higher-ranked side might be nearly over. Though the Swedes are currently ranked 30 to the Republic’s 44, there is, in truth, little to choose between the two sides, with Ireland actually having had the better of things over the course of the 90 minutes in a scoreless draw in Stockholm last March.

Not surprisingly then, that encouraging away performance was very much in Giovanni Trapattoni’s mind when it came to choosing his starting 11 for tonight’s return game.

“We are very conscious that in the next two games, against Sweden and Austria, we are very much playing for our participation in the World Cup,” he said yesterday. “I have watched again the game against Sweden and I am convinced we had the chances to win that game. In Stockholm, we played very well, now we need to repeat the same performance but with even more commitment.”

Trapattoni stopped short of labelling tonight’s game a must-win though, for a change, it was the captain, Robbie Keane, rather than the manager, who insisted on dubbing it a must-not-lose. Nevertheless, there is a strong sense, both inside and outside the camp, that with four points from the next two games the accepted minimum target, the best opportunity to claim three of those should come tonight. In addition, should Germany do Ireland the expected favour of inflicting defeat on the Austrians in Munich this evening, it would mean Ireland could head to Vienna next week with the chance of putting a real lock on second place in Group C.

With Stockholm as his template, Trapattoni has opted again to start James McClean in place of Aiden McGeady on the left flank, meaning Anthony Pilkington will have to wait a little bit longer for his long-awaited international debut. It also means the Italian thought better of following through on his earlier idea of playing two strikers — Jon Walters and Simon Cox — in the wide positions. Walters does make it, as expected, but the Nottingham Forest man loses out.

Explaining his decision to go with the Wigan winger, the manager said: “Initially, I thought we might play with four strikers but, on reflection, I think we have enough with three strikers. Anyway, during the game we can always make changes: other options could be very important. James McClean played well in Stockholm and, also, he is physical. That could be important because it will be a tough game. Sweden are strong physically.”

Richard Dunne — “a massive presence,” in the words of his old comrade Robbie Keane — will be another welcome sight, slotting in beside John O’Shea at centre-half while, despite only recently returning from injury, Millwall’s David Forde reclaims his place as the last line of defence. At the other end of the pitch, Robbie Keane and Shane Long will be asked to carry the bulk of the goal threat.

Regarding his future at the helm, Trap was asked subsequent to the main press conference, if he was worried about his own position ahead of what could prove to be make or break qualifiers, And he replied: “For all of us they are important matches and, with the matches that have gone before, we all believe we can achieve the right results. There is just one ball and, like the players, our thoughts are only on the task in hand”.