GREEN TO GO:
Irish boss will be mindful but not myopic in tackling Slovakia’s ‘danger men’ – a departure from play-offs of times past
Ireland manager Stephen Kenny warms his hands in anticipation as he keeps an eye on his players during a run-out at the match venue, Tehelné Pole, in Bratislava last night
MAREK HAMSIK’S image was once a prized possession in the Kelly household of a decade ago. Not merely the last of the Mohicans, but more crucially the last of the Slovakians as a soccer-mad five-yearold desperately sought to complete his ‘Match Attax’ album.
Looking back on the elusive sticker now, Hamsik’s hair doesn’t seem as elaborately coiffed as it would become in his emerging career as a Neapolitan idol. Which goes to show that not only can appearances be deceptive, but reputations, too.
After all, a decade on and the now teenager wanted to know was Hamsik still playing football at all; like many, we suspect, we had to check to discover he now resides in the Chinese Super League, reunited with old chum Rafa Benitez.
The scourge of the then reigning world champions Italy 10 summers ago is now, clearly, a declining force, but he can still fulfil one of football’s most familiar, if unfulfilling tropes.
The danger man.
Eye-catching
Now 33, the Slovakian captain’s coiffure remains eye-catching. But it remains to be seen whether the 120 caps and 25 goals compiled in a career that decorated two major finals freights more heavily in its impact as an historical portrait as opposed to retaining any contemporary relevance.
Much depends on the approach of the two teams. It may be true that, as in many previous play-offs, particularly in this century, the opposition have a stand-out performer whose class and achievements far out-weigh anything the Irish have to offer.
Ireland have been familiar, almost too comfortably, with this scenario and now may be the time for a mood change.
The temptation is to wallow in the underdog status, not unnerved by having to shackle a superior player; it can narrow minds but this natural impulse to disrupt has often been to the detriment of any attacking play.
Slovakia are a team who are deserving of respect, but not fear; they have players who should prompt caution, but not necessarily over-anxiety.
Still, there are customary conventions at stake here and surely, for Ireland to advance to their final play-off, certain arrangements may have to be made to, in the parlance, ‘stop’ their ‘danger man’.
Except Stephen Kenny is not one to wallow in age-old custom.
For him, although more cognisant that Slovakia’s central midfield – in his mind the now unavailable Stanislav Lobotka had been more significant than Hamsik – will seek to dominate possession, Ireland’s ambition will be to counter that by simply keeping more of the ball themselves.
It is such a simple wheeze that it is a wonder no Irish manager contemplated it before; instead of worrying about an opponent, let them worry about you.
Instead of defending as deep as your own penalty area, you can still push high and deny them space to play, while also pressing them back with uncomplicated passing patterns.
Retaining the ball allows a team to build pressure on opponents’ defensive shape but also deny them the opportunity to put pressure on you.
That’s the theory, anyway. It has rarely been an Irish one, however, though Kenny is anxious for change.
Ireland fans will wait to see how it may operate as the international side finally absorb the self-assured manner of a coach who wants them to become expressive, as opposed to destructive.
It is certainly a change from the normal pre-occupation with play-off opponents, whether one recalls the great Dane Christian Eriksen from a our last or, indeed, the feted Spaniard Luis Suarez from Ireland’s first, 55 years ago.
The FAI took a bung so this unusual one-off tie against Spain was played in Paris, rather than London. Suarez, nicknamed the ‘Architect’, was the key plank of the reigning European champions, and a pillar of the dominant Inter side of the 1960s.
Back then, a selection committee chose the starting XI but many, including John Giles, felt Shay Brennan, returning from injury, was shoe-horned into right-back when he should have been restored to shadow the Spaniard.
Nonetheless, so effective was the relatively unheralded Theo Foley’s man-marking of the legendary Suarez that he aptly ended up getting his shirt. His performance was masterful; the ultimately cruel irony was that, when the Inchicore man was briefly injured and hesitantly returning to the fray, Spain seized their opportunity to score the 80th-minute goal. And with that the 1966 World Cup passed Ireland by, and perhaps a chance to fast-forward the introduction of the then predominantly shunned sport into the Irish mainstream by some 25 years.
The underlying theme of that night, absorbed by Giles and others, derived from Foley’s display with the ball, rather than without; he unpicked the opposition with ease and it was accepted that Ireland had outplayed their rivals.
By the time the side next reached a play-off – again a once-off – the sport had been revolutionised in Ireland and a revolution had changed the way Ire