IRELAND V. N. IRELAND pregame

May 23rd, 2011 | by: Schwallacus | Comments Off

Well, it’s that time of year where the club season is essentially over, and Summer is upon us.  Which means… MORE IRISH SOCCER!!! YES!

Tomorrow, Tuesday the 24th of May, 2011, Ireland have a game against our northern neighbors, Northern Ireland.  It is our second game of the Carling Nations Cup, following our 3-0 victory over Wales a few months ago.  Hopefully we can continue some good form in this mini tournament, and get prepared for our second EURO 2012 QUALIFIER game against Macedonia in mid June.  The starting roster was announced earlier today, so I will give that to you now;

Given (Manchester City);

McShane (Hull City), Delaney (Ipswich Town), Kelly (Fulham), Wilson (Stoke City);

Lawrence (Portsmouth)/Coleman (Everton), Andrews (Blackburn Rovers), Fahey (Birmingham City)/Foley (Wolves), Treacy (Preston North End);

Keane (Tottenham Hotspur), Cox (West Bromwich Albion).

Based off of this roster, I’m assuming Trap is waiting for the game against Scotland to get the squad that he will use against Macedonia.  For this game however, he’s getting playing time either for some newer lads to get some time in the side, see who he likes/ has a decent chance of making an impact in the future, or getting some of the veterans playing time to shake off some dust (Keane, Given).

I like that even though this squad features players with minimal amounts of caps, they are being given a chance to show what they have, and whether or not they will be getting future call ups, or possibly breaking into the starting 11 for the EURO 12 Qualifiers, and hopefully the EURO 12 tournament in Poland-Ukraine in a year.

McShane and Kelly have seen some time with the senior squad, having played 21 and 23 games respectively, and Delaney and Wilson have seen very little time, with just 1 and 3 appearances for the Irish.  In Midfield, Fahey has 10 caps, Lawrence has 13, Andrews has 16, and Foley has .  Coleman and Treacy are the backups for Lawrence and Foley if they aren’t fit, and both of them only have a few caps between them.  Aside from Given and Keane, who are over the century mark for appearances, the team is relatively young and inexperienced.  It will be good to see how they handle a meaningful game, as even though the Carling Cup is a friendly tournament, it is something we should try to win.  Hopefully the squad does well!!

“We have the right squad. We have more than one option for each position.”

-Trapattoni