RICE AIMS TO PROVE HIMSELF
Maturing star Rice eager to test himself against the best in Paris
‘GRIEZMANN IS THE TYPE OF PLAYER YOU WANT TO PLAY AGAINST’
THE media room in Abbotstown is decked with posters of John O’Shea celebrating his famous goal against Germany in Gelsenkirchen, complete with the message: ‘Years Of Service, One Game Of Appreciation.’
O’Shea has given 22 years as boy and man to the green shirt and as the departing centurion prepares to be ‘appreciated’ a final time next Saturday at the USA game in Dublin, his heir apparent in the Irish team has already been identified.
Like O’Shea, Declan Rice has come through the under-age ranks with Ireland and has also made a Premier League breakthrough while a teenager.
In terms of a senior honours, the Londoner is that bit ahead of O’Shea who was 20 when he made his debut, as a substitute, in 2001.
Rice, in contrast, won’t be 20 until January next and could have eight caps by then, much to the dismay of West Ham co-owner David Gold, who tried to claim Rice as a future English international on talkSport radio earlier in the week.
In fairness, Rice was more amused than angry.
‘My phone got bombarded with messages saying, “have you seen this?”. It was way off-topic to come out and say “Declan Rice for England” when I’m here with Ireland. He knows that I play for Ireland so I just forgot about it.
‘I’m here with the Ireland national squad focusing on the two games to prove myself to Martin (O’Neill) and Roy (Keane) that I can play well for Ireland.’
The West Ham defender is the latest in a line of outstanding Irish centre-halves over the past 40 years, a list which includes O’Leary, Lawrenson, Moran, McCarthy, McGrath, Cunningham, Breen, Dunne and O’Shea.
Yet, while he’s a rookie, he not only looks the part, he talks a good game too, without resorting to the standard clichéd responses. He is a cool as a breeze and, you sense, a very decent fellah, like O’Shea in that regard. He has come a long way in the past 12 months and still has much to learn, which is good news for an Irish team in need of an overhaul.
Ideally, manager Martin O’Neill would like to unearth a creative midfielder and a couple of quality goalscorers to go with Rice as he rebuilds for the Nations League and the Euro 2020 qualifiers.
For the moment, he has promoted an elegant centre-half who, like McGrath and Lawrenson before him, and O’Shea to a certain degree, may yet be deployed as a holding midfielder.
In Friday’s practice match in Dublin, O’Neill played him in that position and there is every chance he will start there tomorrow night against France in Paris.
For all that, Rice has already come up against the likes of Olivier Giroud and Paul Pogba at club level, so the Stade de France exam may make the trip to Turkey in March seem like a picnic.
This is the farewell to Paris for Les Bleus before the World Cup finals and the players selected by Didier Deschamps in his provisional squad will be doing their damnedest to stay among the 23 who will travel to Russia.
‘It will be good to get back out to France, to a great stadium with an unbelievable team with a great chance of winning the World Cup. We’ve got to go there and give it everything,’ said Rice.
‘There’s some massive names there. I’ve played against Giroud and Pogba. But then you’ve (Antoine) Griezmann and (Kylian) Mbappe, these are the players you come up against if you want to be the best in the world. You’ve got to test yourself against the best to know you are the best.’
Rice is not being arrogant when he says that, rather selfconfident and there’s a difference. He knows he’s a good player but he’s not yet at the level where he hopes, or needs, to be. On his return from his international debut in Turkey, he was
astonished to pick up a paper in Dunboyne while on Under 21 duty and see a two-page spread devoted to him.
Soon after, though, he was brought down to earth with a bump when he committed a cardinal sin against Arsenal in the Premier League when failing to deal with a ball in the penalty area.
He was hurt and publicl criticisism from manager David Moyes didn’t help. It took him a while to get it out of his head.
‘Stuart Pearce spoke to me at training and said “I can tell something’s not right, you need to forget the mistake”. It kind of took a little bit of pressure off me.
‘I went out the next game and played really well, so I try to block things out as quickly as possible or otherwise you’re not going to move on.’
In terms of moving on from West Ham, he has no idea whether he will fit in under new boss Manuel Pellegrini or if the remaining year on his contract will be his last.
It seems improbable that the club would allow their academy graduate to move, even for a fat fee. More likely, he’ll be tied to a longer, lucrative, contract. ‘I leave that stuff to my agent. Maybe West Ham have spoken to him, but he hasn’t said anything to me.’
For the moment, this week is about taking two steps forward with Ireland. Should he shine tomorrow and on Saturday, he will be in position to play competitively in the Nations League opener on September 6.
And therein lies a dilemma as the Irish U21s, to whom he is committed, are playing a crucial qualifier in Kosovo the next day. As O’Neill will almost certainly need Rice in Cardiff perhaps the FAI might ask their old friend Denis O’Brien for one more favour – the use of his private jet.
If he were to help the U21s to the European Championship finals for the first time, though, his grand gesture would be worth it.