Kerr to have close look at Israel

Brian Kerr's preparations for Ireland's World Cup clash with Israel in March will start in earnest next month when the Dubliner pays a visit to Cyprus to see Avraham Grant's team attempt to maintain their own strong start to the campaign.

Ireland will play Croatia in a friendly at Lansdowne Road in five weeks, but the game is scheduled to take place on Tuesday the 16th, so Kerr can make it to Nicosia by kick-off the following evening.

The game will provide Kerr with a final opportunity to see the Israelis in competitive action before the Republic head for Tel Aviv in the new year, and the Irish boss is determined to make the most of what he feels is too good an opportunity to pass up.

"Well, it's always a bit of a comfort zone," he said of the chance to see the opposition at first hand prior to a game. "You're able to talk about them individually and I feel a little bit better about that. Noel King has been out watching Israel for me and Lou Macari has seen them. I don't know if it makes a huge difference to see them myself as well, but I do always feel better about it."

In common with the Irish, the Israelis' main achievement to date has been to draw in Paris, though the way Grant's men set about the task of taking a point from the group favourites contrasted starkly with the largely open and attacking football played by the Republic in the French capital.

Kerr, though, readily accepts that his opposite number must make what he can of the resources available to him and that the more defensive approach has served the Israelis well to date.

"Israel sat back and defended; they had everyone behind the ball for most of their match in Paris," he says. "But, you know, Greece won the European Championships playing that way. Somebody said they have the world record for 1-0 victories, so it can be done. It's not easy, and it's not pleasing on the eye, but maybe it's more enjoyable when you're in a small country that hasn't had much by way of success.

"It's certainly worked well for them because they've had a very good start and they have to be considered a threat. You can see that some different countries have been getting to finals in recent years - we've had it with Latvia and Slovenia - so there's no reason why a country like Israel can't get there too. What we've got to do is to make sure we do well enough in the remaining games to get there ahead of them."

So far there can be few complaints. The performances in the opening four matches may have been mixed, but the Irish have still won both of their home games and drawn away to the two sides that would have been seen as their main rivals for a place at the finals.

"I'm very happy because we've won our home games and come through two difficult ones away," says Kerr.

"The maximum available to us from the four games was 12 points and I felt that maybe we could take 10. Before we went there I might have felt we were in with a chance of winning the game in Switzerland, but you'd settle for the draw. It's not just a case of taking the point - it's the fact that another team has played a game at home and not won. Taking everything into account, I'd say I'm happy with it, but it's not anything to get carried away with. It puts us in a strong, strong position - just strong."

When asked about what he sees as the most positive aspects of the campaign's early stages, he reflects with considerable satisfaction on the collective performance of his squad in the opening four games and, not for the first time, emphasises the changes he has made over the last 20 months or so by suggesting this is very much a new team.

"Maybe we wouldn't have expected them to gel as well as they have so quickly," he says. "That's the positive. The crowds have been good too," he adds.

"The support last night was good. The atmosphere from the crowd at the game was a change, I thought - there was a definite sense of wanting to give the team a dig-out. And that's a positive. To have a sell-out for the Faroe Islands is good for business.

"But then we've shown that we're a very competitive team. And there's a split in the squad," he says in a chirpy reference to the regular speculation that there is still unrest within the camp, "between those who are very committed and those who are very, very committed. That's what it's shown and that's a real positive."

The levels of satisfaction he expresses are the sort most serving politicians can only dream of, and in the circumstances it is hardly likely he will seek to change much between now and the spring.

The fact that next month's game is a friendly will probably mean that a few of those who played on Wednesday won't be available to him, but, he says, "I haven't thought too deeply about it.

"We've built up a nice squad now and there's a few other lads in the squad that I'm sure you would all like to see and I'd like to see in, but we'll see how it goes. I'd like to have room for them all but we don't have room for them all, and you can only play 11 and can only put seven subs on the sheet.

"I'll see. I'll weigh it up. But the players who have played in the games have shown great commitment, and they've played well. I've not got much reason to discard any of the fellas who have played in the last few matches. They've played well and done what they've had to do whether they were in the squad, on the bench or in the starting team.

"All I can do, though, is wait and see how things pan out in the next few weeks."