Giovanni Trapattoni has given his strongest hint yet that Jonathan Walters will start for Ireland against Estonia in Tallinn on Friday night.
The Italian’s options are limited in light of the suspension to Kevin Doyle and Shane Long’s knee injury, but for a man who has been a consistent lover of Cox (Simon) in the past, it is surprising that he is set to give the Stoke man the nod to partner the fit-again Robbie Keane up front.
That was the gist of the Trap’s typically cryptic press conference on Monday afternoon, although he said that we will “have to wait” until closer to Friday’s game to get a clearer idea of how the first XI is set to line out.
Walters’ style ain’t exactly pretty, but it’s effective and he was excellent in a brief cameo off the bench against Armenia in Ireland’s last encounter, as he has been for Stoke all season.
In that regard, at least Trapattoni is finally factoring in form as one of the main criteria for selection, something he seemed to ignore when he refused to call up the now injured Newcastle striker Leon Best until it became clear that Long was unlikely to be fit.
Thankfully for Irish supporters, Robbie Keane showed little ill-effects from his adductor injury and subsequent Garth Brooks-charged karaoke session last month when lining out for the LA Galaxy last night, but he will have clocked up an astonishing amount of air miles by the time he takes to the field in the Estonian capital.
Jet lag or no jet lag, we won’t care a jot if he can score goals like this in what are Ireland’s most important games in years.
