Squad strain to remain in the present

SOCCER:"LOOSE LIPS provide fillips" might be a candidate to be football's equivalent of the old wartime slogan but it is clear that while they appreciate the need to remain respectful of their opponents until the job is completed no one around Giovanni Trapattoni's squad expects Tarmo Ruutli to find anyway of motivating his men sufficiently to stage a successful comeback tomorrow.

Amid the all inevitable requests to look beyond the second play-off game against Estonia and towards what is now virtually certain to be a first appearance by Ireland at a major championship in a decade, there was care being taken around the Irish camp to remember to say “if” rather than “when” yesterday but almost inevitably there was a certain amount of slippage.

Asked after training if the players would still practice penalties ahead of the game, Marco Tardelli simply replied: “Tomorrow”, but there was a pretty strong sense that he was merely covering himself. Keith Andrews, when the same question was put to him, just laughed and suggested that “maybe we’ll put the time into keeping a clean sheet instead.”

The Ipswich midfielder says the team are determined to “push on, win the game and put on a show for the fans” at the Aviva stadium , adding that once the job is complete, “hopefully we can celebrate afterwards.”

They’ll have to complete their qualification mission without Stephen Kelly, who is out of the game with a groin strain, although the news is generally good for the management team with John O’Shea and Damien Duff both coming through training yesterday along with Kevin Doyle, who is available again after having served his suspension.

Also in is Kevin Kilbane, who has been added to the panel and might yet make the bench. Kelly, Shane Long and Kevin Foley, meanwhile, are expected to be at the game so they can, barring a remarkable turn of events, take part in the celebrations.

At that stage, the focus will shift completely towards the preparations for the finals. First up will be the draw, on December 2nd in Kiev, where, as things stand, the Irish could be handed precisely the same list of opponents that they faced on the country’s only previous appearance at a European finals, way back in 1988.

With one round of play-offs still to go the line-up of finalists is not yet complete, of course, and upsets in the remaining games could significantly change a couple of the rankings, but Ireland know they will be fourth seeds, that the French will almost certainly be in the same pot with them and that the Dutch and Spanish will be in pot one along with the two host nations.

“I wouldn’t fancy Spain if I’m being honest,” said Andrews. “The players they’ve got, the way they pass the ball, I’m not sure me and Whelo would be able to keep up with them! Nah, listen, we have to finish it on Tuesday and then whoever we get, we’ll make sure we’re right and looking forward to it.”

Tardelli, somewhat inevitably, was pressed on whether he fancied the idea of another encounter with Italy. “Why not?” he replied with a grin. “For us all teams are the same. For us we play Italy or England no problem. We must play these games if we are at the cup. The teams are not important. It’s just important to be there.”

Being drawn against England would almost certainly scupper the prospect of a friendly game in Dublin that looks increasingly likely to happen otherwise between now and the finals.

The English are currently scheduled to play the Dutch on the one remaining international date between Tuesday and the end of the season – February 29th – but that game would almost certainly bite the dust if the two sides are drawn together.

Otherwise, there is a week set aside for games at the very start of June. England hope to complete their preparations for the tournament with a friendly at Wembley, most likely on June 5th, and so June 1st or 2nd would be the most obvious dates for a potential return to Lansdowne Road.

It is exciting stuff for a group that would face a dismal end to their season in the event that they somehow snatched defeat from the jaws of victory at this stage.

Asked if he had imagined “even in his wildest dreams” that things might turn out like this with Ireland Tardelli looked momentarily perplexed. “Even in my wildest dreams,” he replied with a grin, “I didn’t imagine I’d ever be helping to manage Ireland”.