Kerr happy with Italian job
Republic of Ireland manager Brian Kerr has given himself a pat on the back for luring Italy to Lansdowne Road ahead of next month’s vital World Cup showdown with France.
Kerr’s unbeaten home record is on the line over the next three weeks because in his 17 matches in charge in Dublin he has yet to taste defeat, with Ireland winning 12 and drawing the other five.
But Kerr faces two of the sternest examinations of such a proud run, starting tonight with the visit of Marcello Lippi’s Italy, who are on course to qualify for next summer’s World Cup finals as they head Group Five by four points from Norway and Slovenia.
Ahead of the September 7 Group Four clash with the French, Kerr knows Italy provide the perfect opponents, even though the scenarios of each game are in contrast to one another.
“A friendly isn’t the same as a World Cup game. There’s not much at stake, they don’t have the same players and their systems will be different,” assessed Kerr.
“But if you can get opposition similar to France, then Italy are ideal. It’s the right type of match for us, and of course they’re going very well in their group.
“They have such a depth of talent and a tradition of success. Sven-Goran Eriksson (England manager) said earlier this week they would be one of the teams, along with France, who might win the World Cup. If France are one of the teams who might win the World Cup, and Italy are also one, we might as well play them one after the other.
“But it should be a good game when you look at their squad and the names in it. They’ve really good players, so it’s better for us to play a top team like Italy ahead of the game with France.
“But then with the exception of China, if you look at our friendly games over the last 18 months they have all been against teams in the top 15 to 20 in the world, the likes of Brazil, Czech Republic, Portugal and Croatia.
“Fair play to the [Football] Association (of Ireland) because they have managed to get those games – but then I got the one against Italy.
“When I was at a conference earlier this year I asked their manager whether he would play us some time. Thankfully for us he said ‘Si’.”
Kerr will have scouts running the rule over France tonight when they face the Ivory Coast in their own friendly in Montpellier.
The fixture is notable for the return of three influential players in Zinedine Zidane, Claude Makelele and Lilian Thuram, who all announced earlier this month they were stepping out of retirement to help France qualify for the finals.
“I wasn’t surprised at that because they (the French Football Federation) were visibly working in the background to try and get them back in,” added Kerr.
“They’ve a huge depth of talent, and looking at the team that is likely to play against the Ivory Coast, it probably won’t be too far away from that which played in the European Championship finals.
“If we had those type of players available there would be a clamour to try and get them back in the team, particularly if results had not been so good in the period they were out.
“But then it took them a long time to make up their minds about coming back, with six matches played in the group.
“We’ve no control over that. It’s just another area for us to deal with when the match comes up, and when it does, our players will be more familiar with the likes of those three than with other lesser-known names.”
Kerr has virtually a full-strength squad to choose from, with only Robbie Keane (ankle) and Graham Kavanagh (foot) sidelined, the latter returning to Wigan yesterday as Ireland did not want to risk aggravating the midfielder’s injury.
Newcastle goalkeeper Shay Given, Manchester City defender Richard Dunne, Charlton midfielder Matt Holland and Birmingham striker Clinton Morrison are all confirmed starters.
