Montenegro v Rep of Ireland is live on RTÉ Two, RTÉ Radio 1 and RTÉ.ie on Wednesday 10 September from 5.30pm.
The year was 1997 and the venue Skopje in Macedonia. Ireland wore orange shirts, Jason MacAteer was sent off and we lost the game 3-2.
Once again Ireland fell victim to a late sucker punch, a low blow. Mick McCarthy appeared at the post match press conference and remarked ruefully in his classic Barnsley drawl that ‘lucky is my middle name’.
There was a time, it seemed, when nothing would go right for a Republic of Ireland gaffer. Skopje was followed in later years by late lapses against Israel and Slovakia and whether the manager’s name was Kerr or Staunton, the end result was heartbreak and disappointment.
Giovanni Trapattoni talks a lot about ‘the little details’ and famously Roy Keane used to proclaim that to fail to prepare was to prepare to fail.
Jack Charlton, far and away Ireland’s most successful manager, used to go and have a quiet chat with the referees before every Ireland game.
He’s an imposing figure at the best of times and a World Cup winner to boot and no matter where the team of officials had come from they had certainly heard of the big Geordie and were no doubt impressed that the great man had come to see them.
Referees are only human after all despite the views of some supporters!
Everything matters in the build up and preparation for a big game – Trap’s ‘little details’.
And you can tell that the third team on the pitch, the referee and his assistants, are charmed by Trapattoni and Tardelli. From my vantage point between the dugouts for the game against Georgia I got to see the interaction between the fourth official and the Irish bench up close and it was a fascinating study.
Trapattoni was all action and prowled the borders of his technical area for the full ninety minutes sometimes transgressing on to the field of play. This was interactive coaching as he practically pulled the back four into shape or switched the wingers and got them to tuck in or called the plays from set pieces.
The fourth official should have been called Hector because he continually harangued the Italian master and insisted he get back in his box. Trap would apologise and sit down for a second before jumping back up again and continuing his constant coaching, practically a twelfth man on the pitch.
Tardelli was also at it and would get up to grab a ball as it went out over the touchline and hang on to it for dear life as if it was his own and he was going home for his tea. Then he and Trap would shout to Kilbane or Finnan ‘patience, patience’ and ‘wait, wait’ as they attempted to kill the game.
When Tardelli was scolded he would flash a huge smile at the fourth official who, naturally, would smile back. By the second half his resistance was worn down and Tardelli and Trap could practically do what they liked on the line. It all matters.
Napoleon was supposed to have said that the best generals are the lucky ones and if that’s the case, Trapattoni has had a late equaliser against Serbia, an unlikely and probably undeserved win against Colombia and an away draw in Oslo against Norway. I must check up on his middle name.
He has won his opening qualifier away from home, a game that was moved to neutral Germany because of the war in Georgia and apart from Damien Duff (and Stephen Ireland, but that’s another tale altogether) he has had all his players available when he most needed them and as we approach the game with Montenegro there are no yellow cards and nobody injured. Are you beginning to sense a pattern here?
By the way, the Ireland backroom team said to me before the Georgia fixture that the game against Montenegro was going to be the trickier of the two matches on this particular road trip and there are many reason to believe that – not least Bulgaria’s struggle to draw with Montenegro in their opening encounter.
The Montenegro manager Zoran Filipovic, quoting from the local press here in Podgorica, said: ‘Italy and Bulgaria are favourites to finish top of Group Eight.’
So maybe that offers us an interesting motivation before the game on Wednesday night.
Filipovic claims the other teams in the group are good, too, as clubs from Cyprus have demonstrated their quality in Europe, while Ireland and Georgia should not be underestimated either.
Currently Montenegro have some real jewels in their team —Roma’s Mirko Vucinic, Fiorentina’s Stevan Jovetic,and Sporting’s Simon Vukcevic all players that will be well known to Trap and his backroom staff. All of the Montenegro players can compete at the highest international level.
Their plan is to force Ireland into playing their style of game, to get them on to the back foot, which they believe will give them their first ever win in competitive international football.
They are bottom seeds only in name.
Filipovic said: ‘I am absolutely delighted with the progress we have made. We have started from zero and managed to build a lot of good things during our first year, regarding selecting a group of players for the qualifications.
‘We have played 10 friendly games so far and won four of them, with two draws. I have seen many positive things and those games were a good filter, which showed us which players can be the cornerstone of our squad.
‘I am happy that Duff, a player I admire very much, will not be coming to Podgorica, but we will still have a lot of work to do trying to contain Robbie Keane in attack.
‘They [Ireland] are fighters, they never give up, which I must say is not a common thing in football these days.
‘They have got a great leader in Trapattoni. The team spirit counts, too, the atmosphere in the dressing room is important and I strongly believe that those are the factors that determine the winner in international football.
‘We are far behind other squads from our group, because of our small population [650,000]. The most important thing is to play hard every game. With good support, we will be a tough nut for every team.’
The heat here in Podgorica is incredible, temperatures in the high thirties even in the early evening when the match will be played. You can be sure though that Trap and his backroom team, the most expensive support staff ever assembled for an Irish national side, will have thought about that and indeed beverything else.
Hopefully the little details, the new found confidence, the certainty and the shape will give us the perfect start on Wednesday night and set us up for a home clash with our old friends from Cyprus in October. And a little luck along the way would be no harm at all either.
Tony O’Donoghue is Group Football Correspondent for RTÉ.
