WORLD CUP Showdown
As Ireland prepare for a win or bust clash with Wales, Martin O’Neill’s message is clear...
WALES have yet to fall behind in this World Cup campaign but they must be put in that situation at some point in Cardiff tomorrow night if Ireland are to keep their play-off dreams alive.
While Ireland can still top Group D, Martin O’Neill fully expects Serbia to go ‘all guns blazing’ at Georgia in Belgrade to secure the win they need to claim the honours in the tightest of all European qualifying groups.
Most likely, Wales and Ireland are duelling for second place, and a shot at the play-offs. This compelling end-game revives rich echoes of the climax to the 2010 World Cup qualification where Ireland travelled to Paris to face a higher seed, France, knowing they had to win to survive.
Shorn of a safety net, Ireland had a choice: fight or flee. And they fought, coming within minutes of a penalty shoot-out for the finals. They will have to call on reserves of resilience and self-belief again in the Cardiff City Stadium.
This current Irish XI isn’t a patch on Giovanni Trapattoni’s crew of ’09 who had the likes of Shay Given, Richard Dunne, John O’Shea, Kevin Kilbane, Damien Duff and Robbie Keane at the peak of their considerable powers.
How many of O’Neill’s XI would make that team? Seamus Coleman, if fit. James McClean? Maybe. Robbie Brady? That’s about it.
It’s a reminder of the hand O’Neill has been dealt. He has some good players, if not great ones, but O’Neill played for two teams, Nottingham Forest and Northern Ireland, who were far greater as a whole than as individuals.
Between 1978 and 1982, O’Neill won the English League, two Europeans Cups, two League Cups and led Northern Ireland to the quarter-finals of the World Cup finals.
He has bloodied a lot of noses in his time and seems to thrive in the role of underdog, which Ireland will fill tomorrow. ‘I’ve been involved in a few big games, and a couple of European Cup wins as well, and this is big; it’s qualification for a World Cup,’ said O’Neill.
‘We (Northern Ireland) had a great time in 1982. I’ve told the players, “This is it, this is it, don’t die wondering. You have to go for it”. And we will go for it.’
O’Neill avoided talking about Wales until the Moldova game was out of the way but was able to visit the subject on the back of a straightforward 2-0 win. For starters, he accepted the absence of Gareth Bale is a blow to Wales.
‘Outside of (Lionel) Messi and (Cristiano) Ronaldo, there’s a group of seven or eight players and Gareth Bale is definitely one of them, no question about it, he is a really great player,’ said O’Neill.
‘Wales will feel that he is a loss to them, in the same manner I feel Seamus Coleman is a loss to us. If you look at this campaign and through to the Euros, we have had to battle through without players who are important to us who have been missing.’
O’Neill shied away from a possible under-current of spite tomorrow as a legacy of the March stalemate where Coleman had his leg broken by Neil Taylor and Bale should have been sent off for a crude lunge on John O’Shea.
‘I don’t know if there is any heat in it. I can imagine the game being like Scotland at Celtic Park,’ said O’Neill.
‘That became like a league game as much as anything else and this might turn out the same. Needle is not in my mind-set,’ he said.
So what will it take for Ireland to defeat a higher seed on away turf? ‘A couple of things,’ observed O’Neill. ‘With the intense atmosphere, you need to play with your head and a great deal of intensity too. The two don’t always marry.
‘And if we have some chances like we had on Friday night we have to take them and be more clinical, it’s really as simple as that.
‘Because eventually, if you keep spurning chances like that, you are not going to win football matches. I know the opposition will be different to Moldova and it will be tight but if we create clear-cut chances like we did on Friday, we have to have a greater percentage conversion.’
Ireland had 14 attempts on goal on Friday, which was a plus, but only three were on target with Shane Long most culpable. The striker apologised to O’Neill after the game and his run of 25 games without a goal has given the manager a selection poser.
With James McClean and Robbie Brady returning after suspension to bolster midfield, O’Neill may revert to a single forward.
In such an event, does he stick with Long or opt for Daryl Murphy, who has eight goals for club and country this season?
The Waterford native has crammed four games into his 34year-old legs inside 13 days and it may be asking a lot for him to put in another 60-minute shift, or more, tomorrow.
Another veteran, Wes Hoolahan, ran the show in the Aviva but may not find as many gaps when confronted by the likes of Aaron Ramsay and Joe Allen.
Arguably, Murphy and Hoolahan were left on for 15 minutes too long on Friday as the game was boxed off at 2-0 from an early stage.
Or it may be that O’Neill kept them on to ensure the points were secured and has already intended to hold them in reserve.
What’s certain is that the manager will freshen the team up and it’s a plus that Brady and McClean are available, as well as James McCarthy and possibly David McGoldrick too.
It also helps that Ireland have a 40-minute flight today while Wales had a 4,500 kilometre journey home from Tbilisi.
Ireland have ridden many blows in this campaign, trailing to Serbia and Austria, only to fight-back. Their spirit has been admirable, if not always their style.
While the costly loss of points in Georgia may yet come back to haunt them, right now it’s all about one more collective heave on the Cardiff gain-line.