What a few weeks it has been, with medals at the European Indoors;  an unexpected octet of winners at Cheltenham and the exploits of one Ruby Walsh, Grand Slam heaven in Cardiff and a World title holder in boxing.  Hopes are high that Aintree will bring more success, but expectations are lowered when the Republic of Ireland soccer side are mentioned. No one will doubt their honesty, not even their manager, but if they make a World Cup play-off, you can’t help but think they will eventually come up short.

I don’t want to sound pessimistic – but a crunch tw0-legged affair could be their undoing next November with their light weight midfield likely to be exposed by sides who will offer more of a threat than the Bulgarians.

As for now, the Italians lie in wait in Bari. The World champions are not an intimidating force, but will be wary of the ‘Trap’ that may befall them on April Fool’s day. Lippi, an admirer of the said Trapattoni, will have his side well prepared, but don’t expect them to roll over the Irish.

John Giles is confident that Trappattoni’s game plan of containment and lack of general lack of creativity can serve the Republic well and that a draw  is possible. A scoreless draw is avaliable at 7/1 with Ladbrokes.

It may not be a pretty sight, but Trap’s side, possibly without Aidan McGeady and definitely missing Damien Duff, and not to mention the absent duo of Andy Reid and Stephen Ireland, would welcome such an outcome.  If the Italians decide to cut loose and show their old boss a thing or two a 3-0 victory for them is worth 9-1. 

A defeat for the Irish would not be a disaster as second place is still well within their grasp – but away trips to Bulgaria and Cyprus could yet prove to be more daunting than the visit to Trap’s homeland. Expect more twists and turns.   

Watch Italy v Republic of Ireland on RTÉ Two television and on www.rte.ie/live from 7.00pm on Wednesday, 1 April.     

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 31st, 2009 at 5:13 pm and is filed under Irish Sport. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.