IRISH MANAGER GIOVANNI TRAPATTONI was a picture of contentment in the aftermath of Ireland’s friendly win over Bosnia.
The Italian was pleased with the effort and control his player’s displayed in a comfortable home win.
Trapattoni said it was tough for his side to go full-throttle on such a sweltering day but he is confident that they will soon be up to speed.
He commented, “It was not easy (as) we had players injured and needing to recover.” Trapattoni added:
The players have had to recover their strength, balance and fitness in the last 10 days. They left me very, very satisfied.
“We deserved to win because we had more of the possession in the first and the second half. We were shooting more and also the corners. It was a very important goal because we hit the crossbar before.
“We had two little mistakes and they could’ve achieved the draw. I think we played very well with attitude, mentality, performance. It’s a good approach to start tomorrow for Montecatini and also Gdansk.”
Jonathan Walters pointed out that conditions over in Poland will be similar.
“It will be hot and humid over there,” he said, “but the manager now has lots of options on the bench.”
On a roll
Shane Long, when fit, has proved a goalscoring threat this season and he was delighted to have taken his chance when he came on as a second-half substitute.
He said, “The gaffer put me on to get the winner and luckily I was on the end of a brilliant Aiden McGeady cross.” Long added:
We joined up on Sunday, and we wanted to get off on a good foot today and get a bit of a roll going before we go to Poznan (Ireland’s Euro 2012 base).
“Job well done. We go on to Hungary on June 4 and we’ll try to get a win there and get a bit of confidence going. The whole country’s getting right behind us.”
“They’re all coming over to support us. Hopefully we’ll give them something to shout about.”
