Lansdowne record should not be broken

SOCCER: For a brief moment Mick McCarthy looked entirely bemused. After all of the "negativity" of the past week, yesterday's pre-match press conference had drifted into what he clearly felt was unexpected territory as a journalist decided to reel off a string of statistics favourable to the Ireland manager that ended with the fact that his team has not been beaten in the 17 competitive home games since he replaced Jack Charlton.

"Eh," sighed the Yorkshireman with a big grin, "don't stop, I'm enjoying this."

Confronted with the same statistic the previous day, one of the visiting media broke out into a fierce grin too, predicting with considerable confidence that the run would not be broken this week. Perhaps McCarthy might take some consolation from the fact that it is not just the local press who generally decline to pack the pompoms when travelling with their national team.

His team's record at Lansdowne Road, though, must surely bolster McCarthy's hopes that with a decent win this evening Ireland can put Moscow behind them and take some control over their position in the European Championship qualifying group.

What few changes the Irish boss makes to the side beaten a month ago will almost certainly be forced upon him, with Gary Kelly set to replace the injured Steve Finnan at right back and Lee Carsley possibly having his nose just in front in the battle for Jason McAteer's place in the starting line-up.

The only other question mark hangs over Shay Given, whose fitness remains in doubt after the Newcastle goalkeeper picked up an ankle injury on Sunday. Since then, both player and manager have insisted that he will be okay by kick-off, but his scant participation in training suggests that Dean Kiely might yet come in for his eighth international cap.

In reality, Carsley, making his first competitive start in just short of three years, would be the only change of genuine significance. In choosing the defensively minded Everton midfielder McCarthy would, despite his limited options, be signalling renewed caution after last month's more attacking game plan came crashing down around his ears.

His Ireland teams, though, have beaten better sides than this Swiss side in Dublin over the past few years, and while the Yakin brothers, Hakan and Murat, as well as the 33-year-old Stephane Chapuisat possess many individual qualities, there is little enough reason to be overly wary of this evening's visitors.

Hakan Yakin's pace on the break and Chapuisat's skills around the area could present problems if Gary Breen (making his 50th international appearance) and Kenny Cunningham have not recovered the sort of form displayed in Asia during the summer.

McCarthy made it abundantly clear yet again yesterday, however, that he will not drop either in favour of John O'Shea on the strength of last month's festival of blunders.

Against the Georgians, the Swiss displayed a tendency to defend far too deeply which got them into trouble for long spells at the start of each half. There was a tendency to do it in Albania, too, where Bernt Haas also looked especially vulnerable when opponents ran at him.

Tonight it will be down to Kevin Kilbane to expose the weaknesses of his former Sunderland team-mate, although the left winger, like Mark Kinsella and Matt Holland alongside him, will also have to do much better than in the opening game if he is to have much of an impact and the Swiss are going to be broken down.

McCarthy's Swiss counterpart, meanwhile, Jakob "Kobi" Kuhn, yesterday admitted to having been quite taken with the Irishman a couple of weeks ago when the pair had dinner together at a UEFA organised manager's conference in Warsaw.

Business is business, though, and when the likeable 59-year-old faced the press at his team's Portmarnock base yesterday he quietly wished his new-found pal ill at Lansdowne Road this evening.

"The way things are for people in our job now you are not allowed to lose even one match," observed the former international, "and I know that after last month he has his problems. After tomorrow night," he added with the hint of a grin, "I hope they are worse."

Kuhn's reaction to Saturday's draw in Albania was also put dryly after the game, with the manager observing that the failure of his defence to organise a wall before the hosts took a free kick quickly and equalised was "a small point, but a significant one".

This evening he is expected to stick with much the same team that threw away what should have been a winning position in Tirana.

He has, however, mentioned the possibility of a couple of changes without naming any names, and there is a suspicion that he could replace Ricardo Cabanas with Mario Cantaluppi on the right of midfield, or give Fabio Celestini a run in the centre and leave Stephane Chapuisat up front as a lone striker.

Either way, this evening's visitors, after feeling that they dropped two points at the weekend, would be well contented to head home with another one to add to their collection.

Such an outcome could well be enough to leave the Irish needing to win the return fixture in a year's time, but, more immediately, its surprise value would certainly be enough to ensure that McCarthy's critics adopt a more familiar tune over the days ahead.

POSSIBLE TEAMS

IRELAND: Given (Newcastle United); Kelly (Leeds United), Cunningham (Birmingham City), Breen (West Ham), Harte (Leeds United); Carsley (Everton), Holland (Ipswich Town), Kinsella (Aston Villa), Kilbane (Sunderland); Keane (Tottenham Hotspur), Duff (Blackburn Rovers).

SWITZERLAND: Steil (Borussia Monchengladbach); Haas (FC Basel), M Yakin (FC Basel), Muller (Olympique Lyonnais), Magnin (Werder Bremmen); Cantaluppi (FC Basel), Vogel (PSV Eindhoven), Wicky (Hamburger SV); H Yakin (FC Basel); Chapuisat (BSC Young Boys), Frej (Servette).