February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Jay Mwamba
Amid the wake of another Roy Keane controversy, Ireland begin their qualifying bid for Euro ’04 away to their toughest foes, Russia, on Saturday, with coach Mick McCarthy seeking a repeat of the strategy that led the Republic to the World Cup finals.
The weekend visit to Moscow is the first game in an eight-match qualifying schedule in Group 10 that, for Ireland, ends in Switzerland in November 2003.
Albania and Georgia, Switzerland’s opponents on Sunday, are the other teams in the group.
En route to Japan/Korea ’02, Ireland opened their campaign on the road against their two strongest rivals — Holland and Portugal — and took points off both nations in Amsterdam and Lisbon, respectively. Sans retired veterans Niall Quinn and Steve Staunton and, most significantly, the exiled Keane, the bulk of McCarthy’s World Cup squad is back for another hurrah in Europe. The 3-0 romp over Finland in Helsinki two weeks ago proved that Ireland have put the rankling disappointment of their 3-2 penalty loss to Spain in the World Cup second round behind them. If there’re any distractions ahead of Saturday’s clash in Moscow, they seem to come from the lunacy the bitter Keane continues to ferment.
Keane’s latest outrage, in elbowing former international compatriot Jason McAteer during an English Premiership match last weekend, and later condemning McCarthy to eternal damnation in a newspaper interview, has some in Britain talking of an “Irish Problem” in the game. From the Irish side, however, the Keane issue is history and will remain so as long as they continue winning.
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On current form, McCarthy’s men have a good shot at knocking off a Russian team in transition after a poor World Cup. Their new coach, Valery Gazzayev, got off to a middling start with a 1-all draw against Sweden in his debut a fortnight ago, and indications are that the Russians will have to lift their game considerably to hold off the Republic.
For Ireland, the European Championship represents a Holy Grail of sorts. Despite qualifying for three of the last four World Cup finals, Ireland have made only one appearance at the continental championship. That was back in 1988 under the revolutionary tenure of Jack Charlton.
Defenders John O’Shea and Phil Babb are the two notable inclusions in the 22-man side announced by McCarthy last week.
Young O’Shea earns a promotion from the Under-21 side on the strength of his recent exploits for Manchester United as Rio Ferdinard’s stand-in, while the veteran Babb is recalled after a two-year absence. He was dropped on disciplinary grounds on the eve of the World Cup qualifiers in 2000.
The complete squad from which the team to face Russia will be selected comprises goalkeepers Shay Given (Newcastle United), Dean Kiely (Charlton Athletic), and Nick Colgan (Hibernian); defenders Ian Harte (Leeds United), Gary Breen (West Ham United), Gary Kelly (Leeds United), Ken Cunningham (Birmingham City), Steve Finnan (Fulham), John O’Shea (Manchester United), and Phil Babb (Sunderland); midfielders Jason McAteer (Sunderland), Matt Holland (Ipswich Town), Kevin Kilbane (Sunderland), Colin Healy (Celtic), Mark Kinsella (Charlton Athletic), Lee Carsley (Everton), Rory Delap (Southampton), Stephen McPhail (Leeds United); and forwards Robbie Keane (Leeds United), Clinton Morrison (Birmingham City), Damien Duff (Blackburn Rovers), and Gary Doherty (Tottenham Hotspur).