Trapattoni targets a break with history

WORLD CUP QUALIFYING IRELAND v FRANCE:IT MIGHT be pretty much unheard of for a team to rescue its World Cup prospects from the position Ireland find themselves in but Giovanni Trapattoni was convinced yesterday his side's hopes of qualification for next South Africa are still alive in the wake of Saturday's narrow defeat by France.

Since the first two-legged tie to decide a place in a finals tournament kicked off between Poland and Czechoslovakia way back in 1933, no European side has ever recovered from a home defeat in the opening game. Most of the instances relate to two-team group games in the days when very few countries entered the competition, but in each of the last three qualifying tournaments, one team has slipped up in European play-offs – Hungary in 1998, Austria in 2002 and Norway four years ago – and none has made it through. In two of the three cases, indeed, the teams playing catch up have lost the second legs by hefty margins.

Trapattoni insists things can turn out differently for Ireland. “France can concede a goal,” he said at the squad’s north Dublin training base yesterday morning. “They scored 18 in their group matches but they conceded nine and that’s enough.

“We have scored away too. Not as many as them, sure, they have many strikers but,” he maintained, “it is possible.”

Ireland’s record is not encouraging. The team has not won a qualifying game against a country ranked above it since late 2001 when the Netherlands were overcome in Lansdowne Road and the team is without an away win over opposition considered on a par with the Republic since the 1-0 victory in Glasgow way back in 1987.

Trapattoni points to his own record of success in such situations, including Fiorentina’s win over Arsenal in the first group stage of the Champions League in 1999/2000, which effectively secured the Italian side’s place in the next round at the expense of the Premier League outfit.

That was certainly an achievement, although there are significant differences, in that Arsenal had drawn in Florence some weeks before and, with another round of games to go in the group, the visitors travelled knowing that even if they did not win they might still manage to progress.

The facts are a little more stark for Trapattoni’s current side as they prepare for Wednesday’s second leg trailing to Nicolas Anelka’s strike. The team will travel to Paris knowing that anything less than a win will mean elimination and the manager said he would now settle happily for cancelling out the one goal lead.

“Yes, but one goal is enough for us,” he said when asked would he encourage his players to place a greater emphasis on attack at the Stade de France. “We remember also the past (a reference to the darker days of the last qualification campaign), “I don’t want to concede five goals, or three or two. If we score one then it might not be so good for them to go to extra-time and maybe penalties.”

Prompted by a French journalist, he seized on the examples of Romania, Serbia and Austria, all of whom have scored in qualifiers in France over the last year or so. The reporter made the point, however, that all had done so having created just one real chance during the game. Ireland’s conversion rate tends to fall some way short of that.

Trapattoni will, at least, be in a position to name an unchanged side for Wednesday’s game if he wants to. None of the players who featured on Saturday have any injury worries and none of those on a booking picked up a second yellow card.

He noted a number of his players were tired in the wake of an extremely demanding contest against strong opposition in heavy conditions on Saturday night, but in reality, he is extremely unlikely to make significant changes to his starting line up, with Liam Lawrence, perhaps the most vulnerable looking of the 11.

“I have to think about the selection,” he said. “We have 90 minutes now that will decide whether we go to the World Cup or not and any changes could be important . . . crucial. We have to check our weapons over the next few days but I am confident, I think it’s possible.”

Talks between broadcasters and the French Football Federation regarding the television and radio rights for Wednesday’s game in Paris have still not been concluded. RTÉ officials were hopeful prior to Saturday’s game that a deal would still be reached, but there did not appear to have been any major breakthrough over the weekend.