Ben Blake reports from Vienna
1. Selection issues to be resolved
DEALING WITH INJURED players is part-and-parcel of being a football manager.
That said, Martin O’Neill has got a bigger headache than usual ahead of what is arguably Ireland’s most important game of this World Cup qualifying campaign so far.
Three of his starting XI — Shane Long, James McCarthy and Stephen Ward — will miss this evening’s qualifier away to Austria (5pm Irish time), while squad players Daryl Murphy, Stephen Quinn and Eunan O’Kane are also unavailable.
Jon Walters, often used out wide, is odds on to begin up front and we’d be amazed if the in-form Harry Arter didn’t come into midfield, but it’s Ward’s absence creates the biggest problem.
Does Robbie Brady drop back into full-back to fill in? Will James McClean, who is expected to be fit after back trouble, be picked on the left side of midfield or as a makeshift second striker? And does Wes Hoolahan start a second consecutive away game?
We won’t find out until 90 minutes before kick-off.
2. A long time coming for Arter
One of the few positives to come out of Ireland’s injury troubles is that it gives O’Neill the perfect opportunity to finally cap Bournemouth’s Harry Arter in a competitive international match.
It’s a year-and-a-half since the tenacious ball-playing midfielder won his debut for Ireland but bad luck with injuries meant he has sat out more games than not — including Ireland’s four matches at Euro 2016.
He was left on the bench in the draw against Serbia back in September, and after rubbishing those daft rumours which suggested he was considering a switch to England, the 26-year-old is in line to start against Austria.
Many will say it’s long-overdue as Arter has been one of the Cherries’ stand-out performers in the Premier League again this season, but better late than never.
He has been doing pretty well for Bournemouth,” said O’Neill when asked about the player yesterday.
“He came off in the game they lost (against Sunderland) at the weekend, but it might have been tactical reasons, and he’s come in raring to go.
“It would be great if selected that he does well — it would be lovely. Over the next two years, we’ll be hoping to see the very best and you’re hoping that he will be able to add something to our squad.”
3. Vienna hasn’t been kind to Ireland
It doesn’t make for great reading — in six visits to the Austrian capital since 1952, Ireland have been on the losing side five times while the other occasion finished a draw.
And the hoodoo even appears to extend beyond Vienna as a meeting in the third city Linz 45 years ago ended in a 6-0 drubbing for the Boys in Green.
The results haven’t been much better in more recent times and the team’s current midfielder and talisman, David Alaba, left it late to do the damage to end Trap’s reign during the 2014 World Cup qualifiers.
But it’s not all doom and gloom for the 3,200 Ireland fans who were awarded the allocated away tickets and the others making the trip to chance their arm on the day.
There isn’t a huge amount between both squads at present, and besides, the likes of Serbia, Hungary and Iceland have all shown that you don’t need to be world-beaters to get at this Austrian team.
As with many of the games in Group D, this is likely to be a tight affair and the safest bet would be to back a score draw.
4. What’s a little snow?
Martin O’Neill was caught a little off-guard on Friday evening when it was put to him by Sky Sports reporter Patrick Davison that there was a reasonable chance of snow on Saturday as temperatures plummeted in Vienna overnight.
Upon learning about the possibility of extreme weather conditions, the Ireland boss laughed it off by joking that his Director of Communications was to blame for not informing him.
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If snow does fall, it shouldn’t cause major problems as the pitch is fitted with under-soil heating and (unlike Ireland) Austria’s capital city is well-prepared to cope in such situations.
This Irish team has had its fair share of weather-related issues when you recall the fog in Zenica this time last year and Belgrade’s water-logged pitch in September.
5. Ending 2016 on a high
Another international calendar year will be wrapped up when the final whistle goes later this evening.
It is Ireland’s 13th game since 2016 began and the 12 so far (seven competitive and five friendlies) have produced five wins, four draws and three defeats as well as an appearance in the knockout stages of Euro 2016.
Although the performances were far from perfect, you can’t argue with how the first three games of the World Cup qualifying campaign have gone either.
Avoid defeat against Austria and Ireland are sitting nicely to challenge for one of the top two spots ahead of three huge home games in 2017 — against Wales, Austria and Serbia.
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