SHANE McGRATH: ONE THING MATTERS —
The complaints will be few if Ireland make it to Russia
WE do not get to choose. There is no other way. Martin O’Neill is not eschewing a noble alternative when he picks a team to do the type of job Ireland performed in Copenhagen, and will have to do again tonight.
His side are basic and cling to the game’s earthiest tactics because there is no alternative. Ireland are not good enough to be expansive or ambitious. Ambition plus ineffective players equals constant, wearying failure. That is an equation as old as sport, and it is one that the Ireland manager obviously worked out years ago. For that, we should be thankful.
Ireland were not striking a pose on Saturday night. Rope-a-dope was mentioned in some of the more hopeful analyses of the first leg, as if the approach was tailored to gull the Danes into believing the Irish can be pummelled into eventual submission, before O’Neill’s men bounce back and claim the prize.
No, that wasn’t the Ireland plan. It was no trick. That was them. O’Neill understands his team are limited, as Giovanni Trapattoni did before him.
But whereas the Italian was painfully open about his selections and tactics — both, he made clear, were shaped by the glaring inadequacies in the resources available to him — O’Neill works dutifully and successfully with a game but limited group.
He is not convinced that one player in his mid-30s with brief exposure to the elite level of England’s club game is a hub around which a more adventurous attacking game can be built.
To the noisiest champions of Wes Hoolahan, this is a rejection of light in favour of darkness. For those of a more even disposition, it makes sound good sense.
Hoolahan is technically accomplished and has been the agent of change in Irish teams. However, for Ireland to salvage a positive result of the kind they managed four days ago, O’Neill needed a group fitted for survival.
Unflagging hard work and discipline were the two most important features of the Irish approach, and contrary to the squeals of disgust, it worked.
Ireland have a chance of reaching a World Cup finals for only the fourth time in our history. Nothing is guaranteed, and Denmark still possess the only player approaching world-class status between the two squads.
Without Christian Eriksen, though, the Danes look as ordinary as Ireland — and the Tottenham midfielder was hassled into ineffectiveness on Saturday and can be again. O’Neill acknowledged yesterday that Ireland will have to find a way of scoring a goal to win tonight, and alluded to a more expansive approach.
Do not expect an homage to Pep Guardiola or the Brazil of 1970, though. Ireland have neither the players nor the inclination to pursue that game. Tonight will, if it goes according to plan, be taut and tough.
First do no harm will be the philosophy governing the home approach: keeping their goal protected will be the priority.
Denmark expect Ireland to open up, as the faintly desperate wishes of Nicklas Bendtner indicated after the first leg.
‘I think it will be a different match,’ he said on Saturday night. ‘They know that they can’t play a match where they have to stay so deep. They know they have to come out and try to score.
‘They can’t play a game of that importance for zero-zero. It’s not possible. I think it’s going to be a little bit more open, will also allow us to get more space. It will be a more interesting match.’
That sounded like a man trying to convince himself. It sounded, in fact, like a man who could not stomach another 90 minutes of gluey attrition.
All the more reason to repeat the dose in Dublin 4 this evening. The closest O’Neill ever gets to Trapattoni helplessness in response to the shallowness of Ireland’s playing stock is a wistful joke about Robbie Keane’s age.
He repeated that line yesterday, as if thinking out loud about what he could do with a team that had a Keane in his prime leading it. Reality is plainer. One of the most successful features of O’Neill’s term in charge has been his willingness to manage the players he has and arm them with a plan that recognises their abilities, rather than expecting Mozart from penny-whistles.
Others can carp about the meanness of Ireland’s approach. The loudest complaints come from the usual places, but don’t suppose for a moment that the great majority of Irish people will mind if their team reach the World Cup tonight playing a game that is basic and ugly. This is the national team, the side that pulls in the attention of more supporters than any other.
People want a reason to cheer on a cold, wet November night, and anticipating the possibilities of a summer held spellbound in the Russian heat is an ideal way to ignore the onset of winter.
Ireland, under O’Neill, do what they must, and that will not change at this late hour.
First do no harm will be the philosophy