Momentum can help us seize big chance, vows Republic boss
MARTIN O’Neill has called for his Republic of Ireland side to draw on their recent experiences after they were paired with Denmark in the play-offs for next summer’s World Cup.
The Republic secured a playoff spot after a 1-0 win in Wales last week was enough to seal second place in Group D behind winners Serbia.
This will be their eighth playoff appearance for either a World Cup or European Championship — making them the most experienced nation in such situations.
The Republic saw off Bosnia and Herzegovina in a playoff for Euro 2016 and, after being drawn against Denmark this time out, O’Neill wants to tap into the memories of those games.
He said: “I think we can draw from that experience. We had two games against Bosnia, two very difficult games for us.
“The (away) game was shrouded in fog in the second half and we got that elusive away goal and were able to carry that momentum into Dublin. Because it is not that long ago I think we can draw something from that.
“Two games in quick succession, the turnover being very quick. Lets just go for it. We are delighted to be here first of all, we had a great win against Wales to propel us here and now lets take our chance.
“I’m delighted to be drawn away from home first so we will try and get some sort of advantage, or certainly negate Denmark’s advantage before we get to Dublin.
“I know the manager. He and I used to play together so it will be an interesting confrontation.
“If you ask most coaches, you want the second game at home. But with the rules like extra time, it gives the away team that chance to score in 120 minutes.
“We have momentum and that’s important. We won our last two games to get here. I’m now concerned with the next couple of weeks and making sure my players don’t get injuries at club level.”
Denmark are currently regarded as the 19th best nation in the world and were the lowest-ranked of the seeded teams for yesterday’s draw in Zurich.
The Republic are only seven places beneath them in the latest Fifa rankings and goalkeeper Darren Randolph (below) admits Denmark was the tie he was hoping to land.
“I think everyone will be very happy with that draw, being away first leg and obviously second leg way in Dublin,” he said.
“That was probably who I was looking out for, yes. I’m happy with that draw.”
Meanwhile, Randolph’s Middlesbrough team-mate Cyrus Christie wants to seal qualification for Russia as a tribute to captain Seamus Coleman — who suffered a serious injury earlier in the qualification process and is still sidelined.
“Of course, that was mentioned,” he said.
“With Seamus being injured we wanted to get to the World Cup for him, he is a big miss and he is our captain and at the end of the day he is a great player.
“If you asked many of the lads they would probably want to do it for him.”
Croatia will play Greece, with Italy and Sweden drawn together in the most eye-catching of the play-off fixtures from an international standpoint.
SO we’ve got ABI in the play-offs after all. Result! To be honest, it could hardly have worked out any better. The priority was securing ‘Anybody But Italy’ and, just after a rather uncomfortable looking Fernando Hierro had pulled what he called “North Ireland” from the glass bowl, out popped Switzerland as our opponents.
Home leg first next month but you can’t have everything, and Michael O’Neill would certainly have settled for this outcome prior to attending yesterday’s lunchtime draw.
The manager’s subsequent wry smile suggested he won’t mind making a rapid return to the beautiful alpine country.
So we can keep daring to dream… of a fourth appearance in a World Cup finals series and of an historic back-to-back qualification for major tournaments.
But before the Green and White Army start counting their roubles, they should gather up some Swiss francs for what will almost certainly be a second leg in Basel with all to play for on November 12.
It may have been, relatively speaking, a dream draw, but this, the first play-off in our wee country’s football history, is still capable of yielding a nightmare outcome.
Just because Switzerland aren’t Italy doesn’t mean they aren’t any good.
They may have trudged off the pitch in Lisbon last week looking rather demoralised following a 2-0 defeat to reigning European champions Portugal, but don’t forget that they had won all nine of their previous qualifying games in Group B — a run that included humbling the Portuguese by a similar scoreline in the corresponding fixture.
They are the highest ranked team in the play-offs — yes, four places better off than those hitherto must-be-avoided-at-all-costs Italians (who are ranked 15th), seven higher than the slick Croatians with their to-die-for midfield corps of Kovacic, Modric, Perisic and Rakitic — and 12 places ahead of us.
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O’Neill added: “Switzerland come into play-offs with nine group victories, they lost the 10th game to Portugal and probably envisaged automatic qualification, and they have to pick themselves up a little bit.
“We knew the plays-off was always going to be our route to get to Russia. Switzerland are a very good team but possibly they don’t have the historical reputation of a European heavyweight
By all accounts they are the team most qualified — if that’s not too ironic a word — to consider themselves unlucky that they aren’t already Moscow-bound.
And they’ve a rich World Cup pedigree too, with 10 appearances in a finals series, including the last three tournaments.
Their team isn’t packed with household names but the most familiar one, Stoke winger Xherdan Shaqiri — yes, he of the irregular but spectacular long-range goals — is more than capable of causing major problems to our defence.
Midfielder Granit Xhaka hasn’t been endearing himself to the Arsenal fans recently — indeed, he was caught on like Italy or the world-class individuals that Croatia have.
“It’s wrong to call it a favourable draw, but certainly beforehand we would have taken it.
“It’s a good draw, not an easy draw, but a good draw as it’s still a tie that we are capable of winning.
“All in all we’re pleased, but we’ll have to be at our best. This is two games, there’s a massive prize at stake and we have to make sure we want it more than them.” camera picking his nose when he should have been tracking Watford’s match-winning Tom Cleverly last weekend — but he’s certainly an effective operator for the national team.
And veteran defender Stephan Lichtsteiner, the captain, will certainly feel he has a point to prove after being dropped by Juventus recently.
Now for reasons to be cheerful; our forthcoming opponents are certainly beatable, and history shows we do have the upper hand when it comes to the Swiss.
All told, the two countries have met four times, with our boys winning two and drawing one.
Having said that, Michael
O’Neill’s preference before the draw had been to avoid Italy and Croatia, and he got his wish as ex-Spain and Real Madrid defender Fernando Hierro picked out the Swiss numbered ball.
O’Neill also sees an advantage in playing at home on the Thursday with the majority of his squad in action for English clubs on the Saturday before.
For the Swiss, who have players based across the continent, the likes of captain Stephan Lichtsteiner, Ricardo Rodriguez, O’Neill wasn’t even born the last time we celebrated a competitive victory over them — in a World Cup qualifier at Windsor Park 53 years ago, secured by a single Jobby Crossan goal.
A fledgling George Best was in the Bertie Peacock’s team that day; he would go on to score a wonder goal in the corresponding fixture a month later, which Northern Ireland lost 2-1 in Lausanne.
The last time we played them was in a boring 0-0 friendly in Zurich back in 2004, a match that even veteran campaigners Roy Carroll and Aaron Hughes, who played that day, will struggle to remember.
So forget about past history, forget about world rankings… Haris Seferovic and Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka will all feature on the Sunday and may not therefore link up for international duty until three days before the game.
“It’s not easy to play away on the Thursday,” O’Neill added.
“Playing on the Thursday, that’s in our favour. The difficulty is with your players coming off the weekend, you’ve possibly 48 hours left if they’re not fit or carrying a knock.
“If they have any difficult out-