Trapattoni keen to lead Ireland to Brazil
Reuters - Wednesday 16 November 2011, 17:28
Giovanni Trapattoni's
ambition to remain as Ireland coach and lead them to the 2014
World Cup in Brazil will be discussed sooner rather than later,
Football Association of Ireland chief executive John Delaney
said on Wednesday.
The 72-year-old Italian ended Ireland's 10-year wait to
reach a major tournament when he guided them to the Euro 2012
finals after Tuesday's 1-1 draw with Estonia in the second leg
of their play-off in Dublin put them through 5-1 on aggregate.
Trapattoni's contract is due to expire at the end of the
European Championships campaign but he says he would like to lead
Ireland's bid to reach the World Cup fianls in Brazil.
He previously managed his native Italy in the 2002 World Cup
in Japan and South Korea and Euro 2004 in Portugal.
Delaney told Sky Sports on Wednesday he wanted To focus on
celebrating reaching Euro 2012 for now but also said there is a
willingness to sit down and discuss Trapattoni's future.
"To work with Giovanni Trapattoni, for me, has been a
pleasure," he said.
"The board will meet in the next couple of weeks to sit down
with Giovanni to discuss... what can happen in the future. I
think that should happen sooner rather than later.
"We'll leave for another week or two the debate about the
manager's contract, but what I will say is: Has Giovanni
Trapattoni taken us forward? Yes, he has.
"Four years ago where were we? Today we're in a far better
place and we're qualified."
GOOD ACCOUNT
Trapattoni told reporters on Wednesday he believed Ireland
would give a good account of themselves at the European
Champioships in Poland and Ukraine next year.
"We believe, because we have confronted France, Italy,
Croatia, Russia... most of the important European teams," he
said.
"I have no answers but we have confronted them and I
understand not only our character but the way the team is
growing, our entity, our personality.
"We are happy with the team, we have trust, we have a good
team and believe this team can do well."
Looking back at the campaign, Trapattoni praised the mental
strength of his side following their painful defeat by France in
the play-offs for the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa.
"I am very, very proud for many reasons. We came here with
an important objective," the Italian added.
"We have started the last [World Cup] campaign in a
difficult group with Italy and then we had France, and we could
have achieved qualification.
"But we started again and we have discovered new important
options in terms of players. They have shown how important they
have been for us.
"We have improved our quality, like against Russia [who they
held 0-0 away]. We have started again with new mentality and the
players believe in our system."
As expected Ireland were placed in the lowest of the four
seeded pots for Euro 2012 by European governing body UEFA on
Wednesday along with Denmark, France and Czech Republic.