The morning after the night before, Giovanni Trapattoni was still of the opinion that his side were undone by a poor refereeing decision against Brazil. While preferring to focus on the positives and look to a bright future, the Republic of Ireland manager insisted Keith Andrews’ own goal should not have been allowed to stand.
Having proved a match for Brazil throughout the first half, Ireland fell behind just before the break when Keith Andrews turned Robinho’s cross past Shay Given. The Irish defence immediately claimed for offside when Robinho was put through, with television replays confirmed they had a case.
That goal, Trapattoni believes, liberated the Samba boys and changed the nature of the game. Brazil, having been frustrated and playing a cautious game, were allowed to cast off the shackles after the break and duly cut through Ireland at will.
Robinho’s stunning second sealed a comfortable 2-0 win for Dunga’s side but many more opportunities came and went for the South Americans.
Nevertheless, having had time to reflect on his side’s performance overnight, Trapattoni was relatively content with his side’s progress to date.
“Yesterday the first half, maybe for one hour . . . I think that we played well. We had confidence and we had the same, or even more, opportunities to shoot on goal,” he told reporters this morning.
“But the referee made a mistake and the first half ended 1-0. That changed the approach of both teams. It gave them the opportunity to play for the result without worrying so much and losing. It gave them confidence to go with their strength and their quality.”
“I saw some good performances, though. I got to see young (James) McCarthy and in training I saw (Greg) Cunningham. I still believe that we are building a strong team. Brazil are good, though, and in the end it wasn’t possible even to get a draw.”
Trapattoni was able to sympathise, to a degree, with Leon Best after he was denied a place in the starting line-up following Robbie Keane’s late inclusion. Keane had initially been ruled out on Sunday night but was declared fit 24 hours later.
Best had already been named in Trapattoni’s side by that stage and was forced to step aside for his captain at the Emirates. Explaining the sequence of events, the Italian stressed Best will have plenty more chances in the future.
“Keane, after the Sunday game had a problem in the knee. He called me on Monday, said his knee was better and asked what should he do? I said ‘come straight away’.
“As for Best, he was disappointed but you must overcome this if you are going to achieve in life. Leon Best is young, he must improve. He must stop looking around. I’ve said to him, look at where your opponent is and look to go past him. There are disappointments in life. He must cope with them.”
Trapattoni now intends to hold a training camp, possibly in Corsica or Sardinia, prior to the end-of-season friendlies with Paraguay and Algeria and will take that opportunity to assess some of the fringe players in his squad.
Of the three uncapped players called up prior to last night’s match, only McCarthy saw action at the Emirates. For the others, their time will come.
“In May, we will have time like we did in Portugal. The young players will get the chance to stay with us, to improve. But we can’t change too quickly, I couldn’t change three, four, five last night. The young players need structure around them.”
Almost inevitably, an Irish press conference was unable to pass without the names of players not involved cropping up.
The Italian cited omertawhen Jamie O'Hara's potential switch to Ireland was mooted – "it is forbidden to speak about him" - but was a little more forthcoming on Stephen Ireland's progress under Roberto Mancini.
“I’m sure Mancini appreciates his talents,” he explained. “He’s a player who can play anywhere. But I watch a lot of City games because of Stephen, and sometimes I watch and he is everywhere, then, in the second half I wonder where he is? It’s not his fault, it’s because of the way the team is.”