“IRELAND HAD THE chances in the two games. They never took it. In the first game, they never performed.
“In the second half, we had opportunities to score and we didn’t take it… They were there for the taking and Ireland never grabbed it. Usual stuff. Afraid of that next step. Mentally, not strong enough.”
That was Roy Keane’s reaction after another disappointing 1-1 draw — against France in a World Cup playoff in 2009. However, these words could easily apply to yesterday’s similarly anti-climactic game with Scotland, whereby a highly promising start was cancelled out by a fortuitous goal that was aided by some sloppy Irish defending.
Keane, then Ipswich manager and now the Ireland assistant boss, is perhaps discovering that the matter of the team overcoming these significant mental hurdles is not quite so straightforward as it may have seemed from afar six years ago.
There was, of course, the usual Keane-esque pessimism that follows a negative result in the aftermath of yesterday’s game. Reflecting on the match at the Aviva Stadium, RTÉ pundit and former player Liam Brady said: “They’re all much of a muchness. We just don’t have a player who can dictate play in the middle of the park.”
This ‘Ireland don’t have the players’ argument has been a common, unceasing criticism of the team in recent years.
Yet who does have the players? France, who lost to Albania yesterday? England, the side who were barely any better than the Irish when they came to the Aviva Stadium last week? Germany, who have hardly been much more impressive than any of the other qualification candidates in Group D? It’s seldom clear what standards Martin O’Neill’s men are being measured against when it is frequently suggested they ‘don’t have the players’. In fact, in terms of collective talent, international football at large is increasingly resembling a wasteland, as many players markedly prioritise club over country and either retire prematurely, cry off consistently or patently underperform.
Ireland are by no means a great side, of course — they pale in comparison to the Irish squad of 20 and possibly even 10 years ago. But to say they ‘don’t have the players’ is too easy an excuse.
(Ireland have suffered of late, while teams with conceivably similar levels of ability, such as Wales, have gone from strength to strength)
Compare Ireland to the team’s closest European neighbours. Barring England, there is not much of a gap, in terms of talent, with Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. However, there is a strong possibility of the Boys in Green being the only member of the quintet who don’t reach the Euros in France next year. Wales and England look virtually assured of qualification at this stage, while Scotland and Northern Ireland have both put themselves in extremely healthy positions with only a couple of games left to play.
No one is suggesting Ireland can win the World Cup, but regularly qualifying for major tournaments should be the least of the team’s aims. No one is saying the Boys in Green should be a major footballing superpower, but the fact that that since the famous victory over Holland at Lansdowne Road in 2001, Ireland have beaten just two teams ranked above them — Slovakia in 2007 and France in 2009 (at least over the course of 90 minutes) — is inexcusable, even for a country with somewhat limited footballing resources and well-documented issues at underage level.
So, to put Ireland’s dour record at international level into perspective, Faroe Islands have managed as many competitive victories over teams ranked above the Irish (Greece twice) in the last seven months, as the Boys in Green have earned in 14 years.
Consequently, there was a sense of grim inevitability about the result of yesterday’s match long before it was confirmed. Scotland, one of the growing list of teams ranked above Ireland, fell behind, but soon found an equaliser. Most critics had predicted a draw beforehand, partially owing to the Irish side’s seemingly inextricable link with this outcome historically, and so it unsurprisingly transpired, yet again.
Ireland home matches, therefore, generally follow one of two well-trodden paths — (as was the case yesterday) Ireland capitalise on a promising beginning by taking the lead, before conceding after an ill-conceived attempt to hold onto their advantage. Alternately, on occasion, a hesitant and sloppy start enables the opposition to go ahead (as was the case against Poland last March), prompting Ireland to lay siege on their goal, invariably finding a hard-earned equaliser, but not quite having enough to secure a much-needed winner. Either way, the team seems perpetually destined to draw and send the supporters home underwhelmed, while retaining the faint hope that qualification could still be ‘mathematically possible,’ ‘if other results go our way’.
So why, then, are arguably lesser teams triumphing as Ireland continually fail?
Of course, the lack of any world-class player in the team is a factor, but is it as crucial as people think? Would a Gareth Bale-type player suddenly make the Irish world beaters? Is it possible for a team to achieve significant success in international football without being supremely gifted? Did Euro 2004 winners Greece have many, if any, world-class players?
Often, tactics, work ethic and preparation are even more important than supreme talent at this level.
Moreover, while there are occasional anomalies, the spectacular failure at Euro 2012 and the 6-1 hammering by Germany shortly thereafter being two prime examples, Ireland are rarely truly outclassed by opponents on the international stage. Instead, it seems a question of mentality — the concession of a late goal, a sudden loss of concentration, a failure to capitalise on a period of dominance — these issues have meant elusive victories against teams such as Sweden, Austria, Czech Republic, Poland, and yes, Scotland have all seemed so near and yet so far over the years.
With a bit more confidence, a bit more guile, a bit more belief, Ireland could have prevailed in these games and would, in turn, have acquired far more tournament experience in recent times.
Yet the reality is that the side lack confidence, they lack guile, they lack belief. Why? The phrase ‘we just don’t have the players’ has been used in reference to the Irish team so much in recent years that you wonder if, deep down, those wearing the green jersey ultimately believe it too.
