RSS
Cathal Dervan


comment on article Make a comment
print this article Print
email this articleE-mail

CATHAL DERVAN

It’s okay to freak out, Signor Trapattoni

By
Cathal Dervan

Published Wednesday, October 14, 2009, 11:10 AM
Updated Wednesday, October 14, 2009, 1:13 PM

Vote now - Buzz this up!


It’s okay to freak out, Signor Trapattoni | Irish Sport | IrishCentral




Ireland boss Giovanni Trapattoni on the sidelines in Dublin on Saturday during the Ireland vs. Italy match.
Photo by REUTERS

Giovanni Trapattoni is one of the greatest diplomats of our time, and it’s starting to annoy many of us with the hopes and aspirations of Irish football engraved across our hearts.

On Saturday night at Croke Park, Trapattoni’s Irish team committed not one but two sins that would be regarded as mortal in his native Italy.

First, they failed to protect an 87th minute lead goal from Sean St. Ledger against the world champions on their home pitch.

And then, to make matters worse for an Italian who prides himself on attention to detail, they managed to get caught on the counter-attack for Gilardino’s priceless equalizer.

That simple 90th minute goal from the Fiorentina striker sent the Italians into the World Cup finals as Group Eight winners, and Ireland into the playoffs as runners-up.

It sparked great joy among all the Italians in the 70,000 crowd bar two -- Trapattoni and his assistant Marco Tardelli.

They were visibly fuming as they left the Croke Park playing area for the sanctuary of the dressingroom where, as Shay Given confirmed on Tuesday, Trap lost it with his team.

He could not understand, in broken English or his native Italian, why his team had gone all gung-ho after going 2-1 up against the World Cup winners with less than three minutes to go.

He could not understand how John O’Shea had headed a ball straight to Pirlo’s feet in the aftermath of St. Ledger’s incredible goal, nor could he work out why St Ledger went missing when Iaquinta set Gilardino up for a simple finish to send his team to South Africa.

According to the eyewitness report from Given at Tuesday’s press conference, Trap let fly in that Irish dressingroom on Saturday night.

Pity then that less than an hour later he sat down in front of a packed press conference and would admit only to being “disappointed” at the manner in which Ireland conceded that costly late goal.

Okay, so Italy probably would have beaten Cyprus in Parma on Wednesday night to condemn us to the playoffs anyway, but that’s not the point here.

What’s wrong with Trap sharing his anger and frustrations with a bunch of observers, the majority of whom were just as annoyed and frustrated by that Irish defense and the sloppy Italian goal?

And when is this Ireland team going to stop making stupid mistakes in the really big games, when it really matters?

One of the things we were promised when Trapattoni arrived in our midst some 17 months ago was a new found organization after the Staunton era.

To be fair to him, Trap’s Ireland team is harder to beat than it has been at any time since Mick McCarthy was forced back into club management in 2002.

But the one thing Italians excel themselves on is the very thing that is still haunting this Irish team, albeit one now just 180 minutes away from the next World Cup finals -- a rock solid defense.

To get to South Africa via the playoffs Ireland will have to pull out all the stops, especially now that FIFA have confirmed that Monday’s draw for those playoffs will be weighted in favor of the top seeds from France, Portugal, Russia and Greece.

1 2 Next page >

Vote now - Buzz this story up!


It’s okay to freak out, Signor Trapattoni | Irish Sport | IrishCentral


print this article Print
email this articleE-mail


Be the first to make a comment.







remember me on this computer
forget your password?     
IrishCentral.com is also home to Irish Voice and Irish America magazine