European Cup Qualifier
14.10.1998 at 19:30 - Lansdowne Road
Ireland will be given a rare opportunity to employ a full offensive when they train their sights on the Maltese in the European Championship at Lansdowne Road tonight (7.30 kick-off).
Manager Mick McCarthy believes that Malta's approach is so predictable he has dispensed with the usual procedure of studying opponents on video, but nothing would please him more than if the Maltese depart from their normal approach.
"I have had two reports on how Malta play and that will cover the situation," he said at training this week, "if they do vary their tactics from what I expect then it means they will come out and attack us and that would be very welcome."
McCarthy's sentiments were understandable, for Malta's standing in world football is such that Ireland can confidently expect to be faced with the problem of breaking down a massed defence.
While McCarthy is secure in the expectation that Malta will not offer any unpleasant surprises, he inevitably preached caution and patience at Ireland's training session on the eve of the game.
"The spectators will come with bigger expectations that we have," he said, "because they will have been reading what the press says but I am not going to treat Malta with contempt by suggesting we are going to score a few goals."
Yet a few goals is what Ireland should provide as Malta have conceded eight in their two matches in the current European Championship, four each to Macedonia and, on Saturday last, to Croatia.
Malta have failed to score a goal in five matches against Ireland since the teams first met at international level in March of 1983 and Ireland have won all five meetings with a goals aggregate of 16/0.
Malta succeeded in scoring against Croatia in Valetta and led 1-0 at half-time before they slumped to another heavy defeat in the second half.
Their hopes of achieving something against Ireland have not been helped by the withdrawal of their most experienced and most highly rated player, midfielder Carmel Busuttil.
He has played in 89 internationals and is top scorer in Malta's history with 21 goals but he withdrew for "personal" reasons from the squad that travelled to Dublin.
In his absence Malta will be more heavily disposed than ever to drawing up ranks of defenders in front of Ireland's front-runners and the task Ireland will face may not be easily solved.
Once before Ireland succeeded in overwhelming Malta and that was in a European Championship tie at Lansdowne Road in November 1983 when Ireland won by a record 8-0.
What was significant about that result was that manager Eoin Hand had several brilliant players in his team blessed with unusually good attacking ability.
They included the magnificent Liam Brady in midfield as well as wing wizard Kevin O'Callaghan, who played with Portsmouth.
Mark Lawrenson was also a talented force in that side as was Kevin Sheedy, in midfeld, and Frank Stapleton at centre-forward.
Prospects are good that this current Irish side will compare favourably with that team against opponents who are all playing their football at home in Malta, principally because youngsters like Robbie Keane and Damien Duff are potential superstars.
Both are chasing their first goal for Ireland at senior level and their hunger should help fire Ireland's ambitions in a match in which McCarthy may have to wrestle with dismissing feelings of over-confidence amongst the Irish players.
Ireland are certain to be very confident and McCarthy admitted yesterday: "Yes, we are very confident and why not. That is not taking Malta lightly, that is not treating them with any more or less respect than we would with Croatia.
"We've prepared very well this week, we've had good training sessions and the only way that we will beat Malta is if we apply in ourselves in the same manner as we did against Croatia and I don't see any reason why we shouldn't."
The key for Ireland will be to provide the dynamic Robbie Keane and the hard-working Niall Quinn with a proper service up front and the focus, in my opinion, will be more on the midfielders than the strikers.
Quinn is so good in the air that the temptation for Ireland is to look upon him as a target that is too readily available and so they will try to find him too often from withdrawn positions.
This is a tendency that has complicated matters for Ireland in the past against opposition of mediocre quality — Iceland, Liechtenstein come to mind — because when Quinn has not been available the equally tall Tony Cascarino offered the same temptation.
Happily for Ireland the emergence of a midfielder of genuine creative ability in Mark Kinsella and the talented Damien Duff on the left flank suggests that Ireland will be able to inject more variety into their attacking play.
Kinsella offers an ideal foil for the more defensive Roy Keane in the centre of midfield and if Ireland play with discipline from the base, established by centre-backs Kenny Cunningham and Gary Breen and Roy Keane, then they should prosper.
Certainly young Robbie Keane looked razor-sharp in his finishing in training this week and with Quinn there to create space for him by occupying defenders, Ireland look well equipped to enjoy rich pickings.
Everything depends upon their attitude and if they remain busy and concentrate on punching holes in the flanks of Malta's defence before bringing the centre-forwards into the play, then Ireland should build on the excellent start they achieved against Croatia.
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