Delaney out to optimise start to 2014 campaign

WHILE ALL thoughts might be focused on next summer’s European Championship finals in Poland and Ukraine, a Football Association of Ireland delegation, led by chief executive John Delaney, is in Frankfurt today for a 2014 World Cup fixtures meeting.

The Republic of Ireland were drawn in a qualifying group with Germany, Sweden, Austria, the Faroe Islands and Kazakhstan back in July and the FAI will meet with representatives of the nations’ associations in the hope a fixtures schedule can be agreed rather than having one imposed by Uefa.

Giovanni Trapattoni expressed the wish earlier this week – assuming he will still be in the job when the campaign begins – that Ireland start with fixtures against the lower-ranked teams in the group and, ideally, at home.

He pointed to the positive start to the Euro 2012 qualifying campaign, when the team took six points from the games against Armenia and Andorra. That, he said, set them up for the group, giving the players “confidence” for the games ahead.

On that basis, then, he will hope to open against the Faroe Islands and/or Kazakhstan, the former ranked 47th in Europe, the latter 50th – Ireland are at 17 in the European list, with Germany (third) and Sweden (11th) above them.

Trapattoni, who won’t be in Frankfurt today, was most eager to avoid starting against Germany, as Steve Staunton’s team did in the Euro 2008 qualifiers, their 1-0 defeat in Stuttgart – which was followed by that 5-2 humiliation in Cyprus – the opening to an ultimately unsuccessful campaign.

Also on the manager’s wish-list is for Ireland to finish with a home game, as they did against Armenia in the group stage and Estonia in the play-offs for Euro 2012.

Those, then, are Trapattoni’s preferences, but if the six associations fail to agree on the fixtures Uefa will step in, as they did for the Euro 2012 qualifying schedule, when Armenia were unhappy with the proposed fixture list.

The 2014 World Cup qualifiers will be played between September 2012 and October 2013, with 53 Uefa nations competing for 13 places in the finals in Brazil. The format is the same as 2010, with teams split into eight groups of six and one group of five. The nine group winners will qualify directly with the eight best runners-up going in to two-leg play-offs.

Meanwhile, Celtic striker Anthony Stokes, who last appeared for Ireland in the friendly against Uruguay in March, says he hasn’t given up hope of winning a recall to the squad, but isn’t overly optimistic about his prospects.

“It’s out of my hands, I just want to play as well as I can and give myself the best chance. If I am scoring goals and playing week-in, week-out, there is not a lot else I can do,” he told Scottish television.

“A season or two ago I wasn’t playing and Trapattoni still picked me, but the lads in the squad are doing well so I can’t have any complaints, really. I would love to be included but the ball is in his court, I can’t do much more than I’m doing at the minute.”

Stokes has nine goals for Celtic this season but didn’t endear himself to Trapattoni when he pulled out of the squad for the summer’s Carling Nations Cup, citing tiredness after a long season.

The Italian described the player’s decision as “unbelievable”.

Newcastle defender Shane Ferguson has reaffirmed his commitment to Northern Ireland to end speculation that he could defect to Trapattoni’s Republic of Ireland.

Fifa rules mean players born in Northern Ireland can play for the Republic, and the likes of Manchester United midfielder Darron Gibson and Everton defender Shane Duffy have chosen to do just that in the recent past.

However, 20-year-old Ferguson, who has represented Northern Ireland at senior international level, but only in a friendly, has decided to stick with the nation of his birth.

The Derry-born youngster, who played for the under-21s in their 2-0 defeat by Serbia on Tuesday, told Newcastle’s website, www.nufc.co.uk: “A lot of stuff was said in the past with people thinking I was going to switch to the Republic of Ireland and in the summer, I had a couple of options.

“I just wanted to take my time and think what I wanted to do, and a lot of people jumped the gun when I wasn’t in one of the squads.

“But my heart is with Northern Ireland and always has been. I’ve represented them since I was a kid and I want to play for them for as long as I can.”