IRELAND HAVE BEEN here before.
Just like it is ahead of their game tonight, optimism was in short supply on 1 September 2001 in the lead up to a vital World Cup qualifier at home to Holland.
The Dutch side boasted world-class individuals such as Ruud van Nistelrooy, Patrick Kluivert, Jaap Stam and Marc Overmars within their ranks, whereas Ireland had a few important players missing, including Kenny Cunningham and Mark Kinsella, as well as being the inferior team on paper.
It wasn’t quite Georgia-esque in its awfulness, but Ireland did come into the Dutch game on the back of an unconvincing performance, a somewhat fortuitous 2-0 win in Estonia.
Mick McCarthy also had one big call to make ahead of the game. Rather than go with Niall Quinn up front as many people would have expected, the Irish boss opted for an inexperienced attacking combo of Damien Duff and Robbie Keane.
It seems strange now that back then, the RTÉ panel were actually suggesting Ireland should be more pragmatic and less adventurous in their play, in stark contrast with the sentiments to the contrary they tend to express regularly nowadays.
“I would have gone for Quinn today,” John Giles said before the Dutch game, with the ex-Leeds midfielder adding that he had a hunch Ireland would get something from the match.
“Quinn gives them a way out if we don’t have possession of the ball — I think Holland will have greater possession of the ball.
“Duff is a good player, but on the day, I would have gone for Quinn.
“In the middle of the field, I don’t know if we have the ability to do what’s needed to be done against a team like this — cutting them up and creating to bring the best out of Duff, whereas Niall Quinn is always a get-out ball, which is a high one in, pick up the pieces, and get in among them.
“It’s a brave decision by Mick McCarthy.”
That last sentence is key — it was indeed a brave decision.
Playing Duff and Keane in attack, rather than Quinn, sent out a message that Ireland were going to try to beat Holland by playing football, rather than simply hoofing it up hopefully to a big man. It was going to be the antithesis of last Saturday’s match against Georgia essentially.
The rest, of course, is history, as the Boys in Green played with no shortage of skill, while Duff was tellingly integral to many of their best moments. Ireland effectively knocked one of the favourites for the 2002 World Cup out in the qualifying round — it was a Dutch team, after all, that had reached the semi-finals of the European Championships just over a year previously, only losing to Italy on penalties.
Giles called the performance “heroic,” whereas Eamon Dunphy suggested it was Ireland’s greatest-ever display at Lansdowne Road, adding: “Jack Charlton had great players at his disposal, Mick McCarthy doesn’t.”
If they are to achieve success this evening against a formidable Serbian outfit, Martin O’Neill could do worse than take a leaf out of McCarthy’s book and opt for an adventurous selection, capable of playing some football in tandem with the usual energy and enthusiasm the Irish team invariably show.
If you look at that Holland game, and indeed many of the great Irish performances of the past, the common theme is bravery — bravery to pick an inexperienced but highly skillful player such as Damien Duff over a legendary figure like Niall Quinn, bravery to get on the ball and play even against supposedly superior opponents that have several world-class stars at their disposal, bravery to stick with the same principles, continuing to push forward and attack even when the game changes (e.g. Gary Kelly’s red card prior to Jason McAteer’s stunning winner).
There have been examples whereby Ireland have shown this kind of bravery in the more recent past too. The 2010 World Cup play-off second-leg qualifier against France springs to mind, when the shackles suddenly came off and the Boys in Green outplayed their hotly tipped opponents in Paris in a tie they surely would have won if it were not for the infamous Thierry Henry handball incident.
Even in the Martin O’Neill era, there have been times where the manager and the team have both shown tremendous bravery. Think back to the famous 1-0 triumph over Germany at the Aviva — a rare occasion when the Irish boss opted to start two of the team’s most technically gifted players, Wes Hoolahan and Robbie Brady, in midfield, as well as placing faith in Stephen Ward at left-back, despite the defender having had virtually no game time that season at Burnley.
Or even recall the 1-0 win over Italy at the Euros, where O’Neill made a number of high-profile changes to the team, dropping midfield stalwart Glenn Whelan and handing a competitive debut to Shane Duffy, while finishing the game with an ultra-attacking midfield that featured Hoolahan, Brady and Aiden McGeady.
Ireland need to adopt this bold approach tonight. The team’s dull conservatism failed to pay dividends against Georgia, so there is little evidence to suggest it will work against a far superior side in the form of Serbia at the Aviva this evening.
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