European Cup Qualifier
29.03.2003 at 00:00 - Lokomotov Stadium, Tbilisi
Republic of Ireland captain Kenny Cunningham yesterday praised the degree of planning brought to the team’s preparations by manager Brian Kerr ahead of today’s European Championship tie against Georgia in Tbilisi.
Cunningham reviewed the constant flow of problems that beset the Irish ahead of a match that will inevitably impact substantially on their prospects of qualifying for the European finals in Portugal next year and spoke admiringly of Kerr's ability to cope.
"It was mentioned that Brian takes great care and we've seen that already in the time that we've spent with him.
"He is very meticulous in his preparation and I've been impressed by it, the way we've approached this week.
"I think he's been excellent and I think we are fully prepared going into the game.
"I don't think there is one angle we could say we haven't dealt with, we haven't prepared, in regard to the footballing side of things. As regards the preparation and the training, it has all been good. So it is pretty much now a case of concentrating all our energies on the game."
Cunningham missed Kerr's first game in charge, the 2-0 win over Scotland in Hampden Park last month. Matt Holland assumed the captaincy in his absence, but Cunningham was yesterday confirmed as leader of the squad, a position he held under Mick McCarthy.
"I'll enjoy being captain and it will be a very proud moment for me to lead the team out as it always has been. But that will be a scant consolation if, come next September, we still find ourselves six or seven points adrift of the top two teams in the group.
"The fact that I will have led the side through that period won't give me particular satisfaction, because it is all about results, it's a results game as we all know."
Sadly for Ireland, the results to date have not been good. Losses to Russia and Switzerland in the opening two matches have left Ireland bottom of the table with three goals for and six against. It was a sequence of results that was very much out of context for the Irish. The sequence of matches they face now confirm that today's match against Georgia and next Wednesday's against Albania will be critical.
Ireland will play those two teams again in Dublin in June, so a run of victories would leave Ireland in a
position to clinch qualification when they play Russia in Dublin and Switzerland away in September.
Said Cunningham: "We're all disappointed with our results in this tournament and our two opening results have given us a lot to do, but it is still there for us. It won't be easy, but if we look at these two games and obviously the following two games in Dublin, it is an opportunity for us to develop some real momentum.
"If after those games in the summer we can find ourselves within touching distance of the Russians and the Swiss going into our two games against them, it will give us a real opportunity of qualifying from this group, so they are the immediate goals over the next couple of months."
The obvious poverty in Tbilisi clearly impacted upon the players as well as everybody else, and it was heightened by the luxury of their base in the five-star Marriott hotel in the city centre. Fortunately for the players, the weather was dry over the past couple of days, but with snow on the hill-tops that surround the city and temperatures just a couple of degrees above freezing, there were many things to come to terms with.
CUNNINGHAM spoke of the poor quality of the living conditions in the high-rise apartment blocks and the general rundown appearance of the city when he said: "It's not often you leave Dublin and within a day of leaving Dublin you wish you were back there in the exotic surroundings of Dublin.
"But we were aware of the fact that it has been snowing here for some time and of the kind of conditions we were coming into and obviously, of the time difference as well. It isn't a big problem, to be honest, and I think Brian had given some thought to how best we should cope with our trip over."
The manager sent the squad to bed immediately after they had a light meal on arrival on Thursday and then allowed everybody stay up later than usual, even if they were confined to the hotel, to help them come to terms with the four-hours' time difference. Said Cunningham: "We adjusted our time clocks last night, we had a lie-in today and it seems to have done the trick.
"We'll train this afternoon and everybody looked fresh and alive this morning and so far things have gone fairly well." The prospect of playing two matches so close together was one he welcomed "we haven't got a huge distance to travel to the Albania game next week and we've got enough depth within the squad so that if we do pick up one or two knocks on the Saturday we've got enough cover available.
"As well as that, I think psychologically it will be very good if we can pick up two positive results in such a short space of time. If we can pick up a paper in Dublin on Thursday and see ourselves within touching distance of those teams above us it can do a lot for us psychologically, particularly going into the games we have in the Summer."
He stressed how determined the players were to turn their situation around after their bad start and said: "I think we are ready. Everybody has said what needs to be said and it is just a case now of going on to the pitch and doing your job.
"It is a massive game, but we cannot be too intimidated coming to a place like this. We'll pay them the respect they deserve; of course we will, but we can't forget that only nine months ago we were on the World Cup stage against some of the great footballing nations, going toe-to-toe with these teams.
"So we've got to take a lot of confidence from those experiences we had in the past and take that into the game and approach the game with some confidence, certainly not arrogance but confidence in our own ability and our ability to go and actually win this game."
To that end, he thought the transition from Mick McCarthy to Brian Kerr had been achieved seamlessly and the players were as united behind the new manager as they had been his predecessor.
"Of course Brian is a different personality to Mick and he is going to do things his own way, but first impressions are very favourable.
"But as we all know it is all about results, it is all about qualification for the major tournaments, and I'm sure Brian will know that he is going to be judged by his results and his ability to take us to those major championships. "We've got a big responsibility in that respect, but the players are certainly behind them; they are enjoying the experience and we're looking forward to getting the results we need."
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