World Cup Moments: Quinn & Keane keep Irish eyes smiling in Ibaraki

13/05/10

Ireland’s World Cup campaign of 2002 hardly got off to the most auspicious of starts – the implosion of captain Roy Keane and manager Mick McCarthy’s malfunctioning relationship at their pre-tournament training base in Saipan saw to that.

A simmering row between the Manchester United legend and all things FAI was brought to a white-hot conclusion when Keane launched into a long-suppressed tirade against preparations for the event, which apparently concluded with an ‘invitation’ for McCarthy to “stick it up his bollocks.” It was an incident of such notoriety that the Irish Taioseach, Bertie Ahern, was moved to intervene and Father Ted creator Arthur Matthews later wrote a sell-out stage play – I, Keano – satirising the incident.

It could so easily have been the definitive moment of Ireland’s tournament – one they had qualified for in dramatic fashion, at the expense of the Netherlands and then Iran, in a heated playoff. A disunited and disenfranchised side, without their one true star, could easily have slumped quietly out of the competition at the first stage.

Their opening game against Cameroon, however, offered compelling evidence that the Irish camp had ultimately been united by the pre-tournament dramatics which had threatened to jeopardise their hopes. Matt Holland’s stunning equaliser in Niigata earned a merited point for McCarthy’s men and set up an intriguing second-game encounter with eventual finalists Germany; ruthless 8-0 slayers of Saudi Arabia in their opening match.

It was Ireland's first competitive fixture against the Germans. Rudi Völler’s side may have been humbled by their capitulation to England during qualifying, but, given Ireland’s relatively meagre resources and absent skipper, it was a clear case of snappy underdogs against established World Cup heavyweights.

Oliver Kahn, ultimate winner of the tournament’s Golden Ball, was the larger-than-life captain of a squad incorporating the talents of Michael Ballack, Christoph Metzelder, and an unknown Polish-born forward named Miroslav Klose. To mitigate these talents, lumbering Bayern Munich striker Carsten Jancker was included at the expense of veteran star Oliver Bierhoff. Nonetheless, few expected the Boys in Green to take anything from the game.

There was, therefore, little surprise when Germany took early control thanks to Klose’s fourth goal in two games, following a headed hat-trick against the feeble Saudis. The Kaiserslautern youngster got between Steve Staunton (winning his 100^th cap) and Ian Harte to beat the hopelessly exposed Shay Given with another header in the 19^th minute, and all was going to script.

But Ireland produced several reminders that the German defence could be breached. A Damien Duff run, a Matt Holland shot and an attempted overhead kick by Robbie Keane were reminders that Germany's defence could yet be breached. Duff – so impressive throughout – ran onto Gary Breen's knock-down and seemed certain to score, but the seemingly unbreachable Kahn threw himself in the way of his shot and the ball slipped wide.

Jancker could then have extended Germany's lead and effectively killed Irish interest in the tournament when put clear by Michael Ballack - but put his shot wide of the far post. Klose put a header over the bar when unchallenged.

With only quarter-of-an-hour remaining ageing Sunderland striker Niall Quinn, who’d been deeply embroiled in the media storm surrounding Roy Keane’s departure, was lumped onto the field in place of full-back Gary Kelly. It was a desperate bid to revive Irish fortunes, with dreams of a second round place fading fast. Quinn takes up the story from here in his own words:

“Time is galloping past. You can feel the anxiety. The bench is screaming at us, the crowd are on edge. Tick, tick, tick...

“We’re into injury time. Please let something fall for us. Please. Steve Finnan comes out with the ball, composed and cool. He sends an angled ball towards me. I’ve been through this with Robbie a thousand times on training grounds. He knows where I’m going to put it and he gets there on time. My part is done. It’s all down to the kid now.

“Robbie controls my headed pass exquisitely and the ball is his...he sticks it past Kahn. The net bulges and the response in the ground is electric, deafening. Above us there’s a wild noise, an endless cheer.”

Pubs, clubs, and bars from Dublin to Dubai, from Naas to New York, resonated with a symbiotic uproar and were left stout-spattered by riotously happy Irish folk and their sympathisers. With 91 minutes and 44 seconds on the clock, Leeds United starlet Robbie Keane has become the ice-cool author of one of Irish football’s greatest moments. His ensuing gambol of delight by the corner flag captured a glorious youthful exuberance to be replayed time and time again in TV highlights packages across the globe.

Two weeks and an unfortunate penalty shoot-out exit later, an estimated 100,000 fans welcomed the squad back to Dublin as World Cup heroes.

McCarthy, Shelvey and Henderson: Young Guns (go for it!)

‘Change’ has been a popular word in political circles these past few weeks. According to the all-powerful party machines and egomaniacal spin doctors, nobody, it seems, is at all keen on staying the same. Sure as night follows day (or blue follows red) the industrial quantities of hot-air spent espousing political change is all too rarely realised, however.

Genuine change, though, is in the rarefied air surrounding the ever-popular Barclays Premier League. Aside from essential regulatory reforms on issues such as club ownership and levels of debt, there will soon be a new dynamic in how the playing staff of each club is composed.

A “home-grown player rule” will take effect at the start of next season. All Premier League clubs will be required to name a squad of up to 25 players, of which no more than 17 can be over the age of 21 and not ‘home grown’ (i.e. trained for three years under the age of 21 by any club in the English and Welsh professional system). This long overdue imposition of a quota system – the first baby-step towards Sepp Blatter’s beloved ‘6 plus 5’ rule? – is designed to restrict the hoarding of talented youngsters at the biggest clubs and, primarily, to force clubs to invest in and carefully nurture their own British talent (or at least buy it in from closer to Leeds than Lagos).

Liverpool’s recent signing of follicularly-challenged Charlton youngster Jonjo Shelvey is surely a harbinger of things to come, given the incoming statute. Particularly when considering the club’s recent reluctance to invest in youngsters from these isles. Yet Shelvey is not exactly a trend-setter, as all top-flight clubs, from title chasers down to rank-and-file members, have already been concentrating their efforts on compliance with the new ruling, which they were formally made aware of earlier this season.

Since the turn of the year, a growing band of teenagers have been offered a taste of Premier League action. What’s more, a number of these new kids on the block have taken to life in the self-styled ‘greatest league on earth’ with impressive ease. One or two have even rapidly established themselves as irreplaceable first-team fixtures, with top clubs’ scouts already admiring their every move.

Wigan Athletic is perhaps an unlikely home of future International-standard talent, given the club’s previous preference for a mixture of battle-hardened journeymen and athletically able exotic imports. The startling emergence of Scotland-born Republic of Ireland international James McCarthy this year indicates a change of direction in recruitment at the DW Stadium, as confirmed by the cut-price January signing of exciting winger Victor Moses from Crystal Palace.

Though baby-faced McCarthy had long been tipped for stardom – and has been the subject of much controversy over his ‘defection’ to Ireland despite having been born and raised in Glasgow – few would have necessarily predicted the sudden and explosive impact the 19-year-old has made in his debut season at the top level of English football.

Perhaps his finest hour in a Wigan shirt to date came during the March win over Liverpool in which the callow youth clearly outshone a struggling Steven Gerrard (who would have been McCarthy’s skipper, had the Scottish Young Player of the Year’s proposed move to Anfield reached fruition. It was a performance which came only a week after McCarthy survived a crazy ‘tackle’ from Birmingham City’s Liam Ridgewell, which could easily have had season-ending consequences. Instead of being cowed by such an act of ruthless brutality, McCarthy instead went on to end the season on a high, comprehensively bearing out the words of his manager, Roberto Martinez: “I was delighted when he made that rather strange decision not to go to a top, top club like Liverpool. I think that decision is being proved right now.”

England under-19 international Moses – who, like McCarthy before him, has designs on representing a country other than that of his birth (Nigeria) – has had a more sporadic impact since his winter arrival. The same can certainly be said of the much-hyped Fabian Delph, of Aston Villa. The £6m midfielder showed glimpses of his undoubted talent during his rare opportunities at first-team level this year, but the well-established Stillian Petrov/James Milner axis has proven to be impenetrable. Delph’s season ended in ignominy, with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament suffered during training last month potentially keeping the ex-Leeds star out until Christmas.

Of course, buying in young, unproven talent is an expensive and risky process. In an ideal world, each club would produce a clutch of first-team-ready youngsters each year. It’s relatively inexpensive; and the fans all love to see a local-boy-made-good wearing the shirt they’ve dreamed of donning since they hoofed their first fluorescent fly-away football over the garden fence.

This year in the Premier League, there have been several shining examples of showing faith in youth being spectacularly rewarded. Phil Jones, of Blackburn Rovers (born in Preston), has garnered an array of praise from all quarters since his late-season emergence as the heir apparent to John Terry (if Sam Allardyce is to be believed.) Certainly, the 18-year-old’s authoritative and assertive displays since a sparkling debut against champions-elect Chelsea have marked the centre-half out as one to watch in the near future.

Sunderland’s home-grown starlet Jordan Henderson started the season out on the right flank; as is so often the case, marginalised by more senior stars at the centre of the Black Cats’ engine room. Since Lee Cattermole’s injury, however, the 6ft teenager has made a central midfield spot his own. Some optimistic pundits even tipped Henderson to make an unlikely surge for World Cup inclusion. Clearly, though, he’ll have to bide his time before making such a breakthrough.

Henderson’s success has been rewarded with a fresh five-year contract, with a similar deal also being agreed with his recent midfield partner, 20-year-old David Meyler (a product of the recently-defunct Cork City, who, like Delph, recently suffered a serious knee injury).

Elsewhere, well-regarded young guns at the top clubs have started to make serious breakthroughs this term. Everton’s giant midfielder Jack Rodwell has established himself in the Toffees’ first team squad and has scored some vital goals. Jack Wilshere’s loan at Bolton has been a tremendous success for the 18-year-old who was much-hyped but largely untested before his temporary move north in the January transfer window and Owen Coyle is naturally keen to extend the Arsenal prodigy’s spell at the Reebok into next season. Back at Ashburton Grove, 19-year-old deep-lying midfielder Craig Eastmond has had more playing time in Wilshere’s (and Aaron Ramsey’s) absence.

Nathan Delfouneso, born just up the road from his senior Aston Villa colleague and fellow Brummie striker Gabby Agbonlahor, is slowly establishing himself as a viable alternative to Emile Heskey as Villa’s primary centre-forward back-up. Indeed, the majority of Villa fans bay for the pacy teenager to be given the nod ahead of out-of-form Heskey when first-choice John Carew begins to tire. In March he notched his first goal for England under-21s; then scored the Villans’ winner at Fratton Park in mid-April.

With the new ‘homegrown’ edict coming into effect in a just a few short months, we should expect an increasing number of teenage squad members to join the likes of Delfouneso, Henderson and Jones; and, incrementally, a greater number of youthful first-team stars born and bred on these shores. So it’s a case of; ‘British jobs for British workers’. Perhaps one of those nice political parties could borrow that line.

Roma eternally grateful for radical Ranieri tinkering

23 games unbeaten. Five wins on the spin. One point clear of distracted Inter in the most hotly-contested scudetto race for years. The recent record of Roma’s well-travelled coach Claudio Ranieri stacks up well against the wealth of past evidence suggesting that the ‘Tinkerman’ was something short of competency at the very highest level.

Chief among the concerns of the ever-diminishing anti-Ranieri brigade has been his past propensity for oblique team selection – and a long history of strange substitutions at curious times. The fact that the Roman has thus far failed to secure a top-flight title, in an otherwise trophy-rich career, is commonly used as a stick with which to beat him. The events of the past weekend in Serie A, however, may well prove crucial in changing perceptions of the ex-Chelsea and Valencia boss forever.

In the aftermath of an execrable (and tempestuous) Derby d’Italia, played on Friday evening to assist with Inter’s Champions League preparations and illuminated only briefly by Maicon’s marvellous moment, and Sampdoria’s last-gasp win over Milan, Roma’s brief was clear – beat bitter rivals Lazio to reclaim the league lead and write Milan out of the race for good. Simple, no?

It’s rare that any Derby della Capitale proves to be a straightforward affair, though. In contrast to their title-chasing adversaries, Lazio – boasting an improved record under Edy Reja after Davide ballardini presided over their worst league run in 20 years – are battling hard for Serie A survival; lying a mere three points above the drop-zone before kick-off. It’s just three years since the biancocelesti were enjoying Champions League football, but a gradual decline in standards now threatens to totally destabilise one of Italian football’s grandest names. With so much at stake, the Roman police feared tensions between the two sets of tifosi would be exacerbated; and so peculiarly reacted by bringing kick-off forward by a couple of hours, at short notice.

Clearly, favourites Roma miserably failed to adjust to the new set of circumstances as they fumbled their way through the first half; rocked by Lazio skipper Tomasso Rocchi’s expertly-taken opening goal and continually tormented by the perceptibly passionate play of their struggling counterparts. It had become, for Roma, one of those derby occasions where the heart rules the head and brainless football is the product. Both captain fantastic Francesco Totti and his deputy Daniele De Rossi were rightly yellow-carded, as the charged atmosphere on the terraces of the Olimpico seeped onto the field of play.

It was obvious a half-time change was required – of tactics, of personnel, of anything which would shake up the slumbering giallorossi. Roma president Rosella Sensi must have been reaching for the keys to a padded dungeon and dusting off an old straightjacket long-abandoned in the Stadio Olimpico lost property box, however, when Ranieri pulled a rather spectacular make-or-break decision from the darker recesses of his unpredictable mind. Both Rome-born gladiatori – Totti and De Rossi – were substituted; in their places arrived Rodrigo Taddei and fast-improving Frenchman Jeremy Ménéz.

Recall, if you will, the press-pack and phone-in hysterics surrounding Rafa Benítez’s occasional withdrawal from action of either Steven Gerrard or Fernando Torres with some 20-or-so minutes remaining. Then, to extrapolate, picture a (wildly improbable) scenario in which Liverpool are taking on Everton with the Premier League title on the line; the Reds trail at the break, so Rafa hauls off both Gerrard and Torres in response. The sheer rabid apoplexy that would ensue hardly bears thinking about. So make no bones about it: Ranieri’s decision was risky in the extreme.

Almost immediately it appeared that it had backfired when Lazio continued their flying form into the opening seconds of the second half. Mobile wing-back Aleksandar Kolarov surged towards the Roma penalty area and obliged with a swan-dive as hero of the season’s first derby, Marco Cassetti, left his leg dangling dangerously on the fringe of the box. The game’s momentum was instantly reversed, however, when on-loan striker Sergio Floccari had his mediocre penalty kick repelled by Roma ‘keeper Júlio Sérgio.

An apparent sense of relief instantly pervaded the Roma team. Let off the hook, the probing of Menez and the indefatigable David Pizzaro pushed their teammates forward in search of an equaliser, which duly materialised within just minutes of Lazio’s penalty miss. Sub Taddei repayed Ranieri’s faith and meted out a spot of karmic justice, as he too ‘earned’ a penalty by clearly diving over the half-challenge of Kolarov in the area. Unlike Floccari, free-scoring Mirko Vučinić would make no mistake from the spot and matters were again level. The usually implacable Montenegrin’s release valve obviously exploded following the sudden release of such immense pressure, as he celebrated the goal – his 9^th in ten matches – in an atypically wild manner.

Vucinic’s reactions were a little more muted ten minutes later, when he capitalised on Cristian Brocchi’s reluctance to face up to his rocket-like free-kick from just outside the ‘D’. The veteran midfielder leapt out of the way, leaving Fernando Muslera woefully exposed, as Vucinic hammered a shot straight through the disintegrated defensive wall and into the top-centre of the Lazio net. His tenth goal in as many games was a most emphatic rebuttal of those critics that have so frequently doubted his contribution to the cause. It was also a goal to settle the derby.

Mauro Zárate (on for the revved-up Stephan Lichtsteiner, who refused to shake Reja’s hand upon his substitution, then returned to the field at the final whistle to participate prominently in one of a number of unseemly scuffles between the players) briefly threatened to provoke a Lazio revival, but Rocchi acrobatically zipped an effort from the Argentine’s pass just over the bar. To cap a miserable second half for the Aquile, influential midfielder Cristian Ledesma was shown a second yellow late on as the final moments descended predictably into bitter acrimony.

The last time Roma overcame their detested city rivals, in December last year, they stood 11 points adrift of Inter in 6^th place. They now sit atop the standings with only four rounds remaining and challengers Inter potentially preoccupied with the considerable challenge of taming the Barça beast.

In the Eternal City it’s said that fortune favours the brave, and if Roma can pull off this, one of the greatest comebacks in calcio history, Claudio Ranieri’s boldest move yet may be regarded as the pivotal moment in securing a Roman triumph.