You can try to get it off your mind but it’s hard

You can try to get it off your mind, but it’s hard.” The fact that he was willing to make the trip shows that Kerr is having a positive effect.On the field, however, there is a lack of creativity in midfield Matt Holland and Mark Kinsella are too similar The Irish miss Roy Keane, as a player at least Up front, Kerr lacks options. “It’s only natural and anyone in my position would have done the same. That meant he missed out on the cauldron of Tbilisi and was in no fit state to play against Albania, as Keane himself admitted.”Of course I was thinking of my dad,” he said. Victory over Scotland in a February friendly was marred by Roy Keane’s thoughtless announcement of his retirement on the eve of the match, much to Kerr’s anger, while these two games have been hit by six withdrawals and, to compound matters, the death of Robbie Keane’s father.

The only thing was we got a reasonable number of points and Switzerland and Russia, who are in the top two positions in the group, did not gain ground.”Kerr has had no honeymoon in his new post, inheriting a squad in turmoil with morale damaged after the autumn defeats and Mick McCarthy’s departure. Considering the withdrawals and the difficulties with the team, they did as well as could be expected.”It could have been a lot worse if the results had gone otherwise. The Irish may need to go to Switzerland, in their final game, in need of a win.After visits to two countries that are, in themselves, an enigma, it is no great surprise that only a little light has been shed on Ireland’s chances.”It was the most difficult of trips to put together because of the isolation of the countries,” said Brian Kerr, the Republic of Ireland’s new manager, exhaustion etched on his face yesterday “I think we managed all that stuff very well. This may not be quite a group of death, but it may well be, as one Irish commentator put it yesterday, “the group of banana skins” Each of the five nations is capable of beating the others. The title is a reminder of the challenge they still face in qualifying for Euro 2004 after a punishing Group 10 double-header in Georgia and Albania.
Four points from two games represent the minimum acceptable return. The in-flight entertainment on Monarch Airlines 9539 from Tirana, carrying the Irish squad, was the Steven Spielberg film Catch Me If You Can. Both should be given a more extended opportunity when Austria play the part of Germany in a dress-rehearsal friendly at Hampden on 30 April..

Vogts may be advised to monitor the condition of Don Hutchison, who has lost the spark he showed early in his Scotland career and is increasingly conspicuous for berating referees.There is also a case, certainly in games as winnable as Wednesday’s, for eschewing caution and trusting in the attacking attributes of Colin Cameron and Paul Devlin. And Rudi was on the board at Bayer Leverkusen when it was decided that Vogts should no longer be manager there.”Ultimately though, the points will be decided by the actions of players (not forgetting match officials). “Berti was not very happy that the German federation ended his time as manager of the national team. It’ll be a real duel between them.”The sub-plots are piling up according to Edvaldsson. If the penalty had been awarded to us in Glasgow, they would have had no points from these two matches.”Edvaldsson, whose brother Johannes played for Celtic and who is himself steeped in German football after playing in the Bundesliga, acknowledged that the struggle for first and second place would probably be resolved by Scotland’s tussles with Germany – and how the rival coaches handle the pressure “I’m sure the two games will turn on the two personalities.