O'Shea still a cause for concern

Soccer:For the first time since they assembled in Dublin at the start of last week to start their preparations for the European Championships, all of the Republic of Ireland's key players took a full part in training today although Giovanni Trapattoni said afterwards that he still has a slight doubt about John O'Shea who, he explained, must still prove his fitness against Hungary on Monday night.

Both O’Shea and Shay Given looked comfortable in training in Borga A Buggiano, near the town of Montecatini where the squad is currently based, and both took part in a training game at the end of the session.

Given seemed to kick with his right foot without any problems and Trapattoni suggested that the player’s knee has recovered to the extent that he no longer considers the goalkeeper to be an injury concern.

The Aston Villa player will, Trapattoni said, start against Hungary on Monday night but he said that O’Shea, who continues to recover from an ankle problem, is only “90 per cent” certain to feature from the outset, “For him,” the Italian said, “the game is still the test”.

Stephen Hunt skipped the training game but trained fully otherwise and the manager insisted that the Wolves winger is fine but had expressed a preference to rest in the wake of what was a particularly active role in Tuesday night’s 5-0 win over a Pistoia XI.

Trapattoni refuted the suggestion that he would have been better naming a larger preliminary squad at the start of the month and then letting surplus players go when clearer about the injury situation and what position required particular cover, insisting that it would have resulted in several players rather than just one feeling let down.

“It’s the same. To decide one or three or four (have to go) is the same. They would be disappointed. I have explained before, many years ago when I was with the Italians, seven went home and all seven were disappointed.”

Asked if he had been aware of the depth of Foley’s anger in the wake of being told he was to be replaced, Trapattoni admitted that he had not. “No,” he said. “I would have said disappointed but I was disappointed too. If you think that 50 kilometres from here there is another national team (Italy) and they have 32 players. Think about nine players having to go back!

“But we have responsibility, not just for words (like journalists). Words are like this,” he said while blowing into his hand and watching dust fly away. “We have responsibility for the team, for the country. And we are professionals. We are not idiots. We decide which players we need.”