By Dave Kelly
What’s your dream draw for Euro 2012? The glamour of
Spain, England and Portugal, perhaps, or maybe something a little more low key: Poland, Russia and Croatia?
The Palace of Arts, Kiev, is the venue for Friday’s draw, after which the planning for next June can begin in earnest.
Giovanni Trapattoni travels to the Ukranian capital fresh from a contract extension after the formality of his new two-year deal was finalised this week. His focus can now be entirely on the European Championship finals.
From an Irish viewpoint the manager will feel he is due a change of fortune on the international stage. As a player he was part of the Italian squad that failed to progress from their group at the 1962 World Cup in Chile.
Forty years later he was the Italian manager at the World Cup in Japan and South Korea, where his team lost a highly controversial second round game to South Korea after extra-time.
Italy were undefeated at Euro 2004 in Portugal, but conspiracy theorists had a field day over the manner in which they exited the tournament. Denmark and Sweden knew a 2-2 draw in their final group game would take both nations through and that’s exactly what transpired.
Managing Italy and the Republic of Ireland at a major tournament could hardly be more contrasting in terms of expectation: Azzurri fans want silverware, while Republic fans will be happy with performances full of pride and any glory they can get.
When June rolls around Ireland will again be back in the familiar role of gutsy underdog: an international David against whatever Goliath may come our way.
Ahead of the Estonia play-off there seemed to be a general unease around the country, despite the fact that Ireland were about to face the lowest-ranked nation remaining in the tournament.
The Republic's manager did his best to convince us that his team should not be considered favourites. He spoke in a similar vein prior to the group game with minnows Armenia. The Republic seem to be more comfortable when they talk themselves down and build up the opposition.
There can be no doubt that the Republic of Ireland team have made huge strides since Trapattoni came into the job, following the ill-fated managerial stint of the Republic’s playing legend Steve Staunton.
Trapattoni’s reign boasts just two competitive defeats, an undefeated record in the group stage of the World Cup qualifiers, and now Euro 2012 qualification. The current FIFA World Ranking List puts the team just outside the top twenty.
From a fans’ viewpoint, Group A is the place to be, with Poland the top-seeded nation, but conversely the lowest-ranked team in the competition.
It's possible that all three of the Republic's games would be played at the Municipal Stadium in the City of Wroclow. Currently ranked 66th by FIFA, 41 below the Republic of Ireland, Poland look to be the weakest team in the competition and would have been unlikely qualifiers was it not for their co-host status ensuring an automatic place at the finals.
Group C is the other group to be played in Poland, in the cities of Poznan and Gdansk. If the Republic find themselves in Group B, matches will be in the Ukranian cities of Lviv and Kharkiv.
From a fans’ perspective, Group D, where Ukraine will be the top-seeded nation, looks the one to avoid. The Republic of Ireland would play their games in Donetsk and Kiev. Logistically, this presents a significant challenge to travelling Irish fans as the journey between the cities is a massive 727km.
Denmark, the Czech Republic and France are the other nations in pot four on Friday, leaving 12 possible opponents for the Republic of Ireland at the group stage.
In reality, the team will do well to play more than three games next June - whatever Friday’s draw brings in Kiev. For the dreamers out there, an optimistic note to end on. The Republic of Ireland will be only the third nation to play in the European Championship finals after a 24-year gap - the other two? France, winners in 1984, and, Greece, winners in 2004.
POT ONE (TOP SEEDS)
POLAND
FIFA World Ranking: 66
Manager: Franciszek Smuda
Qualified as co-hosts
Republic of Ireland record v Poland:
P 23 W5 D8 L10
UKRAINE
FIFA World Ranking: 55
Manager: Oleg Blokhin
Qualified as co-hosts
Republic of Ireland record v Ukraine:
No previous meetings
SPAIN
FIFA World Ranking: 1
Manager: Vicente Del Bosque
Qualified: Group A winners - P8 W8 D0 L0 Pts 24
Previous Euro Cup honours: Winners 1964, 2008
Runners-up 1984
Republic of Ireland record v Spain:
P24 W4 D7 L13
NETHERLANDS
FIFA World Ranking: 2
Manager: Bert van Marwijk
Qualified: Group E winners - P10 W9 D0 L1 Pts 27
Previous Euro Cup honours: Winners 1988
Republic of Ireland record v Netherlands:
P19 W7 D3 L9
POT TWO (SECOND SEEDS)
GERMANY
FIFA World Ranking: 3
Manager: Joachim Low
Qualified: Group A winners - P10 W10 D0 L0 Pts 30
Previous Euro Cup honours: Winners 1972, 1980, 1996 (as West Germany)
Runners-up 1976, 1992 (as West Germany)
Republic of Ireland record v Germany/West Germany:
P17 W5 D4 L8
ITALY
FIFA World Ranking: 9
Manager: Cesare Prandelli
Qualified: Group C winners - P10 W8 D0 L0 Pts 26
Previous Euro Cup honours: Winners 1968
Runners-up 2000
Republic of Ireland record v Italy:
P11 W1 D2 L8
ENGLAND
FIFA World Ranking: 5
Manager: Fabio Capello
Qualified: Group G winners - P8 W5 D3 L0 Pts 18
Republic of Ireland record v England:
P13 W2 D6 L5
RUSSIA
FIFA World Ranking: 12
Manager: Dick Advocaat
Qualified: Group B winners - P10 W7 D2 L1 Pts23
Previous Euro Cup honours: Winners: 1960 (as Soviet Union)
Runners-up 1964,1972, 1988 (as Soviet Union)
Republic of Ireland record v Soviet Union/Russia:
P15 W4 D4 L4
POT THREE (THIRD SEEDS)
GREECE
FIFA World Ranking: 14
Manager: Fernando Santos
Qualified: Group F winners - P10 W7 D3 L0 Pts 24
Previous Euro Cup honours: Winners - 2004
Republic of Ireland record v Greece:
P2 W0 D1 L1
CROATIA
FIFA World Ranking: 8
Manager: Slaven Bilic
Qualified: Group F runner-up, beat Turkey 3-0 on aggregate in play-off
Republic of Ireland record v Croatia:
P6 W3 D2 L1
PORTUGAL
FIFA World Ranking: 7
Manager: Paulo Bento
Qualified: Second in Group H, beat Bosnia and Herzegovina 6-2 on aggregate in play-off
Previous Euro Cup honours: Runner-Up 2004
Republic of Ireland record v Portugal:
P12 P4 D2 L6
SWEDEN
FIFA World Ranking: 18
Manager: Erik Hamren
Qualified: Runner-up in Group E, P10 W8 D0 L2 Pts 24, best placed runner-up
Republic of Ireland record v Sweden:
P8 W3 D1 L4
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