Finnan and Reid in line to start for new beginning

INTERNATIONAL NEWS: AS PREPARATIONS for the Republic of Ireland's end-of-summer friendly got under way in conditions more commonly associated with the depths of winter at Malahide yesterday, Giovanni Trapattoni confirmed his starting line-up in Oslo will have a more familiar look about it with Steve Finnan, Kevin Kilbane and Shay Given in line to return.

Finnan, he suggested, might not be quite fit enough to last the 90 minutes on Wednesday night but the Italian's satisfaction at having the Liverpool right back available again was obvious, while his caution at being invited to recommend the 32-year-old leave Anfield in order to ensure regular first-team football this season was understandable.

"The player is with Liverpool," he said with a smile. "You know," he added, "I already talked about Robbie Keane and the Tottenham manager asked me why I was interested in his player. He sent me a yellow card so I think he (Finnan) can decide for himself."

All but four of the 22-man squad - Given, Damien Duff, Aiden McGeady and John O'Shea - trained yesterday and the rest were expected to arrive in Dublin last night. The team head for Oslo this morning and Trapattoni says he is delighted to travel with such a strong squad, predicting his team this week will be "90 per cent" the one he aims to start with in next month's qualifiers.

"Okay, it's a friendly but in Norway we need to have a good game so as to be ready for the qualifiers," he said. "We must look to play well because the season has started. I will start with Kilbane, Steven Reid, Steve Finnan and Richard Dunne. Finnan might not be able to play 90 minutes and maybe Kevin Doyle won't but I am sure Shay Given can and we will change three, four or five players during the game."

For Reid, then, Wednesday is set to mark the end of almost two years of injury-induced international exile and Trapattoni confirmed he sees the Blackburn player slotting into the centre of Ireland's midfield, most likely alongside his namesake Andy.

"Steven has a good personality and he is also athletic," said the coach. "I think he can be very important for us. And we need tall and physically strong players like him in the centre, we already have players like McGeady, Keogh and Duff who can play out on the line."

Reid is certainly hoping this week's game marks the start of a new beginning to his international career. Now 27 and having started two games at the World Cup six years ago he has long been seen as having the potential to be a major figure in the squad. However, six years on he has just 20 caps, the last of them coming against Germany in Stuttgart where a back injury triggered a sequence of problems that confined him to the sidelines for more than a year.

He played regularly for Blackburn through the tail-end of the club's last league campaign but after what he reckons was his first proper pre-season in three years, it is only now, he says, he really feels he is back to something approaching his best.

"It's a massive season for me now and on the international front I really want to be back involved, making a contribution in the big games. I've enjoyed playing in friendlies but I played in the World Cup and since then I haven't really been involved in the campaigns, that's what I want now."

He had his first one-to-one meeting yesterday with the new coach (the fifth he will have played under at international level - asked about how many there have been on the club front, he laughs, "God, how long have you got?"). It was "just a little chat," he says, but the Italian appears to have impressed him and he is especially pleased to hear he is seen as having a role at the heart of the team.

"Funny enough I spent the whole of the pre-season playing at right back with Blackburn but then started on the right side of midfield against Everton and did okay, I think. But the best form I've shown for Blackburn was probably a couple of years ago at the end of the season when I was playing in the centre. That was a position I've really played well in and ideally I'd like to play there."

A decent showing on Wednesday and it seems Reid will probably be in the thick of things in next month's qualifiers, assuming they both go ahead. Trapattoni expressed the hope again yesterday that Fifa will make a quick decision on whether to move the Georgia game out of Tbilisi but his midfielder insists the venue for the game is not a major issue amongst the players.

"Obviously we've seen what's been going on and we're aware of the FAI writing to Fifa but we're just there to play football, whether the game is moved wouldn't be a problem for me personally."