Sleepy Basel, it's quiet . . . too quiet

In Basel, the broad, muscular Rhine sprints through town at such a rate that the four quaint little ferry services which work the water need to be tied to overhead cables lest they be swept away to Germany and the north.

Were such a catastrophe to happen the anxious commuters would get to calling their offices to say they would be late in just as their vessel was leaving Swiss territory upriver at the Dreilandereck, a curious little spot where three countries meet. At the Dreilandereck a fellow could stand with a foot in Germany and a foot in France and kiss his girlfriend in Switzerland were she broadminded enough to be up for that experience.

The tripartite experience is available in another, more conventional form this afternoon a mile or so down the river against the current. Three countries, Russia, Switzerland and Ireland have a foot in Portugal and next year's European finals already.

Ireland play Switzerland in the St Jakob stadium today. Russia, busy in Moscow, will simultaneously have an eye on the St Jakob. When the business is done one country will book its hotels in Portugal. Another will head for the play-offs. The third will dissolve into tears and hard-luck stories. As a proposition it beats the Dreilandereck for drama.

Not that you would know it. An oddly muted atmosphere hangs over this charming old town. The Swiss don't top many European tables in either football or the business of losing the run of themselves. Being top of the Group 10 table and entertaining not only the most controversial team from last year's World Cup but the representatives of Europe's leading binge-drinking nation should really be a more colourful experience for them. It isn't.

Perhaps it's a logistical thing. There is one Irish pub, imaginatively called Paddy Reilly's, with posters advertising a festival of Irish folk to take place next weekend, an instance of such bad planning that the organisers deserve a crack at redesigning Luas.

So, it's quiet. Too quiet in one way, fittingly so in another. This has been the group of modest achievers. Group 10 has never crackled and sparkled. It has added no entries into the book of classic Irish games. The games have been too error-strewn, the form too erratic, the teams too limited. Group 10 has been football's beta blocker. The group will deliver no serious contender to Portugal next summer. It's the least exciting cliffhanger finish ever devised.

And yet . . .

You can sit and work out the permutations with actuarial patience and it makes things none the clearer. Anything could happen this evening. Ireland, Switzerland and Russia have each simplified the equation. They'll all go out to win. Then they'll sort the travel arrangements out.

There's the rub. Portugal next summer! Back in the big time. The appetite will have returned by then. Several promising boys will be men by then. Brian Kerr might have an army to lead. "We've come here to win this game," he's said again and again, "but we don't need to win it in the first minute. Winning it in the last minute will do nicely."

Winning at all would be nice. As a rule in qualifying we don't beat decent teams away from home. Whether Switzerland deserve to be categorised as a decent team is a moot point but as group leaders they are the best of what has been laid out before us.

It's been that sort of group and we're that sort of team. Shorn of genuine retirees and without some players who could play but won't play, we are at a junction. Journalists and fans have for the past few days tried to guess the team Kerr will field this afternoon. The only consensus is that there has never been so little consensus about the team.

Certainties are few. Given. Breen. Duff , Kilbane and Keane. Even within that shortlist there are questions about Damien Duff's positioning. Up front or on the right. There are takers for both bets. Then it gets speculative. John O'Shea at left back or centre half? Finnan on the right of midfield or left back or right back or on the bench? The energy of Colin Healy or the aggression of Lee Carsley in central midfield? Or neither of them and just the old firm of Holland and Kinsella holding the fort?

Clinton Morrison or David Connolly up front with Robbie Keane perhaps? What about Steven Reid's strength for a wide position? Who knows? There are more questions than answers. Certainly at a Brian Kerr press conference.The perfunctory business of press conferences is beginning to irritate him and if he could make this job just about football, he would. Yesterday morning's training session was closed to the media despite the FAI having announced that 15 minutes thereof would be open.

Then the afternoon press conference began 20 minutes earlier than advertised neatly wrong-footing many scribblers.

Little was said anyway. No team announcement. An affirmation that Ireland are here to win. Word that Mattie Holland is in bed sick. Brian Kerr doesn't blame himself for passing the bug on. And the last words.

"See ye, I've got work to do."

In a quiet town, Brian Kerr has been more sombre than most. No overhead cable required to keep him from getting carried away. Not long after tea the far shore should be in sight. The arrival will be better than the journey. Surely.