To
any of you who made the trip out to Cyprus to watch the Ireland
game last month, I hope you managed to get a nice tan as that would
probably be the only thing positive to come out of such a woeful
performance when they were humbled by the footballing minnows 5-2.
This performance has not been seen by an Ireland team in many a year – it’s
easily their worst performance in the last 15 or so years – even
worse than the defeat in Russia four years ago and the lame rolling
over and dying act they’ve performed against Switzerland over
the past two qualifying campaigns.
Republic Of Ireland Manager Steve Staunton could sense that the vultures
were circling around him after just six matches in charge, Staunton
has suffered four defeats. That is the same the Republic lost during
his predecessor Brian Kerr’s 32 matches.
Credit to him and the players, they came out and managed to secure
a 1-1 draw against the Czech Republic. They now get their chance to
really start turning up the pressure with a qualifying game against
San Marino later this month.
If Ireland do end up losing against a country which has a population
smaller than Sparkhill, then he should go – it is very doubtful
this will happen – but if it does, then maybe Staunton might
do the honourable thing and depart.
This is the negative part out of the way. Looking forward to the game,
Ireland will have a near full-strength team out and buoyed by their
excellent result against the Czech’s, will be looking to kick-start
the campaign and secure their first victory on the road to Euro 2008.
A good sign for Staunton is the pending return to the international
fold for Sir Bobby Robson, who had been in hospital for the past four
Ireland games after he was recovering from surgery to remove cancerous
growths.
The 73-year-old has been given the green light to return to the Republic
of Ireland camp and after doubts as to whether he would be able to
actively take up his consultancy role, but Robson is raring to get
going again starting with the game against San Marino.
“I have been given the all-clear by the doctors and I am looking
forward to getting back to doing
the job I was employed to do,”
said Robson.
“Although I have been in regular contact with (Republic of Ireland
manager) Steve Staunton and (Football Association of Ireland chief
executive) John Delaney by telephone, I missed being able to link up
with the squad and attend the games.
“But the FAI, and in particular John and Stephen, have been wonderfully
supportive in recent weeks.
“I desperately want to repay them in the coming months by helping
Stephen and the squad, building on the excellent performance against
the Czech Republic and show the result against Cyprus was a one-off.”
Manager Staunton admits that it will be a relief to have such an experienced
figurehead in the dressing room as although he has been in contact
with him over the phone, speaking one-on-one to players is one of Robson’s
strengths as a consultant.
Staunton said: “Although I have spoken daily to Bobby, it is
a great boost to know he has now been cleared to travel and attend
matches.
“It will be great to have him around again, and myself and the
players look forward to linking up with him for the game with San Marino.
When he is around them, they are always talking to him asking for advice
on their game – what they are doing right or what they could
be doing better and so it.
“Someone like him in the camp, who is always lively and is totally
committed to the cause is always good to have and it’ll be good
to see him with all the lads again.”
FAI Chief Executive also reflected Staunton’s thought on how
much of a pivotal role Robson could be as Ireland aim to qualify for
the European Championships for the first time in 20 years, since
their groundbreaking campaign at Euro 88.
Delaney said: “I’m delighted Bobby is now fit to resume
his duties. In the short period before his illness he showed us a glimpse
of how much he can contribute and we look forward to benefiting from
his vast experience in the
months ahead.
“We wanted to give him time to recover after his surgery and
now that he has been given the all-clear to resume his duties, we will
be looking forward to seeing him
in Dublin and hopefully be celebrating a victory over San Marino in
a few weeks.”
It is probably good timing that Robson is coming back as Northern Ireland
have overtaken the Republic of Ireland in the Fifa rankings for the
first time.
After beating Latvia in their most recent Euro 2008 qualifier, Northern
Ireland have risen 13 places to 45 while the Republic slip to 49. It
is Northern Ireland’s highest ranking since 1995 and the Republic’s
lowest for eight years.
Ireland’s rankings reached an all time high of sixth spot in
August 1993, just before the boys in green under the tutorage of Jack
Charlton were to qualify for the World Cup in the United States
of America.
Their fortunes then took a dip after failing to qualify for the European
Championships in 1996 and the World Cup in 1998 saw their ranking drop
to an all-time low of 57 in November 98.
Out with Charlton and in with Mick McCarthy and under him, Ireland
then started to climb back up the rankings and when they secured a
spot in the World Cup in 2002, then followed almost a four year period
as one of the top twenty teams in the world.
As recently as November 2005, Ireland were ranked 23rd in the world,
but since then, there has been a dramatic downward spiral which sees
them lying in 49th spot, underneath teams such as Mali (41st) and Guinea
(31st).
So here’s hoping that a good win against San Marino (ranked 194th
in the world) will see Ireland climbing back up the rankings and closer
to a spot in the European Championships.
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