Ireland boss fancies Italy to advance

Costa Rica may have made it difficult for Martin O’Neill’s side, but they didn’t do enough to convince the Irish boss England will have any problems.

But he’s sticking with Italy to advance out of Group D.

“I’ve used this word before so I’ll go with it again: Italy are a tournament team,” he said Friday night.

“Obviously Montolivio will be a loss to them and it’s really disappointing. It’s something that casts a bit of shadow over the side going out but they’ve got quality players and I think they’ll have to overcome that.”

As for Costa Rica, their second-half display with 10 men was notable but not enough.

“If you had said to me in the first-half, I wouldn’t have thought Costa Rica would cause England too many problems. Second-half with 10 men with [Joel] Campbell going wide and right hand side and being able to cut in... I’d say they probably saw that with [Marc] WIlson going off and we had a forward playing in a defensive position, he thought maybe this was a chance.

“They did very well but I perhaps wouldn’t read too much into it at the end.”

Costa Rica will not have to worry that defender Giancarlo Gonzalez will miss any action in Brazil despite being sent off for violent conduct, his first-half elbow of Kevin Doyle leading to his dismissal. Under Fifa rules, the repercussions of the red card will not come into force until Costa Rica’s next friendly, meaning he is free to play in Brazil.

Ireland’s next friendly is more immediate, tomorrow night in the New Jersey Meadowlands against Portugal representing one last chance for the Irish manager to have a look at some of his younger players.

“There were a lot of changes in the side [against Costa Rica] and I think you have to take these things into consideration.

“The 15-minute spell after half-time I thought wasn’t too good from our viewpoint because we never got close enough to them and that’s the time when we should really be putting that game to bed.”