Maurice Osborne
Staff Writer
There are those who feel we have little or no chance of progressing from the group stages of the European Championships in Poland and Ukraine this summer. No one can deny that we are up against it in a group containing current champions Spain, a vastly experienced Italian side and solid Croatian team led by their charismatic manager Slaven Bilić. Despite this, we have a good chance of upsetting the odds. Apart from Euro ’88, we have successfully progressed from the groups stages of all the major championships we have qualified for. We seem to perform when it really counts, whatever eleven Giovanni Trapattoni fields will give it 110% and there is no reason to doubt that they will step up to the plate this June.
Undoubtedly, the toughest fixture will be against Spain on the 14th of June. There is not an international team in the world containing players with so much individual qualities and their football skills are second to none. The only thing I would say in our favour is that our defensive style may work well against a team that bases their game around slick passing keeping the football on the ground. It will require a heroic defensive effort like Richard Dunne’s performance against the Russians in Moscow last year. There is no doubt that it will be tough, but if we can get in their faces and stop them from getting their passing game going we will have a fighting chance of securing a point.
Four days earlier we face the Croatians. The pressure will be on in this opening game and it is arguably the easiest of the three matches. The Croatians are not known as one of the heavyweights of European football and it is my fear that the weight of expectation in the opening game may get the better of us. We tend to play better when we are up against it, as was seen against the French in Paris a couple of years ago. Trapattoni’s defensive style has been criticised by many and I for one am hoping for more of an attacking approach from the team at Euro 2012. Various football analysts such as John Giles have pointed out that the Irish team only begin to play with any kind of ingenuity when they concede a goal. Instinct takes over and defensive tactics are thrown out the window. Although we obviously should not be hoping for us to concede a goal, if we do, it may be a blessing in disguise.
Our final group game against the Italians is a game which I feel Trapattoni should be targeting as a must win. It will probably all come down to this final game and the chances are that we will need a win to secure qualification to the knockout stages. It could not be scripted better, an Italian manager, in charge of an Irish team, taking on his native country and a team that he managed only a decade ago. There is no doubt that Trappatoni would love to get one over his native country. Having secured two draws against them during the World Cup 2010 qualification campaign the Irish players will have no fear of them. The Italians have an aging side which still includes players from their 2006 World Cup winning team and it is my hope that the fitter younger Irish team will be able to secure three points against an Italian side which seems to be relying on the veterans of 2006. If we somehow managed to get through our group we could be looking at a potential quarter final against our English neighbours. Who knows how far we could go? The sky’s the limit as Greece showed the football world when winning the European Championships in 2004.
