While the spectators are likely to have the pleasure of watching South American stars such as Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos, and Ronaldinho, Damien Duff will not be fit enough to start and Liam Miller and Colin Healy have also been ruled out through injury.
But for emerging players such as Andy Reid and John O’Shea, as well as the more proven Robbie Keane, the prospect of taking on Brazil will be enough to add a highly competitive edge to the game.
“With the World Cup qualifying campaign coming up, we want the younger players to be familiar with each other, so we’ll look to give everybody an opportunity to show what they can do,” Republic manager Brian Kerr said last week.
The match also marks the return of Jason McAteer, who at 32 played his last international against Russia 18 months ago. McAteer had contemplated retiring like Gary Kelly and Dean Kiely, however, he wants another opportunity to play in a World Cup finals.
“The last time I was only involved for 55 minutes, so I’ve got to qualify for another one to put that right,” he said. “It would be a great way to finish off my career.”
SANCHEZ MAKES DEBUT
Lawrie Sanchez makes his debut as Northern Ireland manager in a Belfast friendly against Norway today.
It’s a daunting task that the ex-Sligo Rovers boss faces as the North attempts to end a 14-match winless streak that includes a European international record of 13 games without scoring a goal.
Most recently in charge of Wycombe Wanderers in England’s Div. 2 before he was let go last September, the 44-year-old Sanchez, who was capped three times by Northern Ireland, pulled no major surprises last week when he named his maiden squad.
Expected to lead the North’s revival after the fruitless Sammy McIlroy era are such familiar names as Roy Carroll, George McCartney, Keith Gillespie, Colin Murdock, Michael Hughes, and the Zambian-born Jeff Whitley, who was often overlooked by McIlroy.
The full Irish squad, from which Sanchez will pick his starting 11 at Windsor Park as the North begins its preparations for the start of the 2006 World Cup qualifiers in the fall, comprises:
Goalkeepers Carroll (Manchester United) and Maik Taylor (Birmingham City); defenders McCartney (Sunderland), Aaron Hughes (Newcastle United), Stephen Craigan (Motherwell), Chris Baird (Southampton), Peter Kennedy (Wigan), Murdock (Hibernian), Danny Griffin (Stockport), and Mark Williams (Wimbledon); midfielders Gillespie (Leicester City), Hughes (Crystal Palace), Steve Jones (Crewe), Whitley (Sunderland), Philip Mulryne (Norwich), Damien Johnson (Birmingham City), and Danny Sonner (Nottingham Forest); forwards David Healy (Preston), Andy Smith (Glentoran), Andrew Kirk (Hearts), Gary Hamilton (Portadown), Stuart Elliott (Hull), Paul McVeigh (Norwich), and the Dutch-based James Quinn (Willem II Tilburg.
Norway will have several English Premier League stars in the side, including Sunderland goalie Thomas Myhre (Sunderland), Aston Villa defender Ronny Johnsen, midfielder Martin Andresen of Blackburn Rovers, Leeds veteran Erik Bakke (Leeds United), the versatile John Arne Riise (Liverpool), and Jo Tessem (Southampton).
MIDWEEK EURO SCHEDULE
Ireland versus Brazil in Dublin today tops a busy midweek schedule of internationals across Europe as country’s either warm up for the summer’s continental championship in Portugal or fine tune their squads for the ensuing World Cup qualifying campaign.
The Republic’s main rivals in Group 4 of the latter competition are also in action today, with France engaging Belgium in Brussels and Switzerland taking on a second string Moroccan side in Rabat. Morocco’s first team is unavailable after competing in the African Nations Cup where they lost 2-1 to Tunisia in the final last Saturday.
In Tel Aviv, Israel, who host Ireland in a World Cup qualifier in March next year, meet Azerbaijan.
Even the minnows of the Faroe Islands, expected to be the whipping boys of Group 4, are not standing pat as they square off with Poland — one of Northern Ireland’s Group 6 foes — this Saturday and then tackle Luxembourg next Tuesday.
Poland play twice in three days: against Slovenia today in Cadiz and this weekend with Faroe Island.
The North’s other Group 6 opponents will be busy as well, with England testing the might of Euro ’04 hosts Portugal in Loule and Wales involved in a local derby against Scotland in Cardiff.