St Jakob's could be ladder or snake pit

On Soccer: Though not quite make or break in terms of Ireland's hopes of qualifying for the next World Cup, tomorrow evening's return to the St Jakob Park in Basel will provide the clearest indication yet of how far this team has developed under Brian Kerr since the day they had their hopes of a place at the European Championship finals comprehensively shattered here by the Swiss.

Kubi Kohn's side didn't look a great side that day last October, and they didn't look an especially good one at the European finals where they had their share of poor fortune but still managed only one goal in their three games. The veteran coach has nevertheless developed a strong understanding with his players in the four years since he became the first Swiss-born manager of the side in 15 years.

Given the difficulties involved in trying to find a balance between ageing players moving towards retirement in the build up to Portugal and the number of promising yet untried youngsters looking to break through from a highly successful under-21 team, qualification was in itself seen as a significant achievement at the end of last year.

As Kerr has acknowledged this week, however, the Swiss may be at something of a disadvantage in the early stages of the new campaign for while the Irish boss has had a year to develop his side - to bring on Andy Reid, integrate Andy O'Brien into the defence and provide Graham Kavanagh with some overdue experience at this level - Kohn has had no real opportunity to adjust to the loss of key players like Stephane Chapuisat, Fabio Celestini and Jorg Stiel.

The Swiss retain a strong squad, though, and with home advantage they go into the game confident of repeating last year's victory. If the Irish don't cope more effectively with their attacking play from midfield this time out they will probably be proven right. However, Kerr, for all his injury worries, will field a better team this time and it is simply impossible to imagine the visitors surrendering another game in the half-hearted way they did when losing 2-0 here last time.

Right through the spine of the team last year Kerr ended up starting with makeshift partnerships. In central defence there was Gary Breen and John O'Shea, in midfield Matt Holland and Colin Healy and up front, Robbie Keane and David Connolly. None worked well on the day and the performances of the likes of Stephen Carr, Damien Duff and Kevin Kilbane weren't even close to being strong enough to rescue a difficult situation.

Some of the selections on the day looked questionable at the time but the manager's options were clearly limited by factors outside of his control. Most decisively, the absence of Kenny Cunningham deprived the team of its most intelligent defender while the absence of Roy Keane meant they were without their most influential midfielder.

Tomorrow evening there are likely to be at least six changes to the side that started 11 months ago, with the likes of O'Brien, Andy Reid and Clinton Morrison all set to start what is Ireland's most important qualifying game this side of Christmas - but all do so after Kerr has worked hard to maximise their potential.

In O'Brien's case the move was overdue, for the 25-year-old has for some time looked the most capable partner for Cunningham from all the available options.

With Morrison, Kerr had decided by the start of this year the Birmingham City striker was to be his first choice and he has since invested heavily in the 25-year-old, handing him seven starts in friendly games this year. The results have been mixed with the former Crystal Palace forward developing into a more rounded player but showing few signs of becoming more effective in front of goal. His opener on Saturday, however, went a long way towards rewarding Kerr's persistence.

Reid's emergence, meanwhile, has been more dramatic and is the product of Kerr's finest piece of forward planning. Certain the young winger had the potential to make a major impact in this campaign the Ireland manager gave him every chance to become accustomed to life in the national team.

Saturday's performance might, of course, be a little misleading for the Cypriots made life surprisingly easy for Ireland's more adventurous players. Still, if the Dubliner can make anything like the same impact tomorrow as he did at the weekend then, with Roy Keane back in the midfield and the team as a whole in more confident mood than when they came here needing to win in the wake of a disappointing draw with Russia, there is every chance the visitors can secure the sort of result that would reinforce the belief, far more than any number of good friendlies has done, that the team is once again moving in the right direction.