JOE’s Ireland team – World Cup 2014

In honour of Trapattoni's decision not to try out more young players against Norway, JOE has decided to compile what we think could or should be our Ireland XI for the next World Cup.

By Conor Hogan

In 2014, the World Cup will be held in Brazil, and we at JOE are quietly confident that the Republic of Ireland will be among the party. We are less confident that Giovanni Trapattoni will be at the helm, however, as the Italian will be 75 years of age at the time. While we are grateful to the former Inter Milan and Bayern Munich manager for improving our fortunes in recent times, his departure may at least give us the opportunity to play in a more progressive fashion.

The formation we have chosen to play in for our speculative Ireland future team is a somewhat adventurous 4-3-3. Many of the talents we have picked to play have not yet realised their potential, and some may never realise it. Yet if they were to reach the level than many think they are capable of, then this team could be a hell of an exciting watch. It’s a young side, the average age is 26, and it would be much lower if you didn’t include the goalkeeper.

There is little reason to believe that Shay Given will be ousted from his position as Ireland goalkeeper by the time of the next World Cup. Age won’t really be an issue – 38 is still relatively young for a goalkeeper – though he will obviously have to be playing first team football at the time. Keiren Westwood, who will be 29, is a more than decent back-up and will be likely playing in the Premier League by then.

Defence

At the back, we have gone for a central defensive partnership of Shane Duffy and John O’Shea. The 6'4" Duffy made his debut for Everton at the age of 17, and represented Northern Ireland at under-21 and B level. He switched allegiances to the Republic in 2009, a decision which upset the IFA so much that they made a case to the Court of Arbitration. Duffy is technically very good, is excellent in the air and can also take a mean penalty.

We have chosen O’Shea to partner him instead of Richard Dunne, who will be 35 at the time, because of the Manchester United man’s versatility. If one of the full-backs, Greg Cunningham or Seamus Coleman, were to make a forward run, O’Shea could fill their position and midfielder Ciaran Clark could drop back to centre half.

Both Cunningham and Coleman are equally adept at playing in midfield as they are in defence and will be very important supporting the attack. As mentioned, Clark will play in the defensive midfield role to give some balance to what is a pretty attacking formation. If the Aston Villa man is the Sergio Busquets of the team, then James McCarthy and Conor Clifford will be our Xavi and Iniesta (their positions of course, I’m not suggesting they are the Spaniards equal).

Clifford, who is currently impressing on loan to League One Plymouth, is highly regarded by his parent club Chelsea, and his style of play has been compared to that of Frank Lampard. McCarthy, meanwhile, is as Wigan manager Roberto Martinez described him, “one of the most creative young players in the league”.  A potential Clifford/McCarthy partnership could be the creative antithesis of the current Whelan/Andrews and Whelan/Green double acts.

Attack

One of our front three, Robbie Brady, has yet to play a senior league game for Manchester United though he has been impressing greatly in reserve matches. He scored twice and picked up a Man of the Match award in his team’s 5-1 Lancashire Cup victory over Bury for instance. The left footer is a winger by trade, and has modelled his game on that of Ryan Giggs. He can also play up front, however, and could easily drop in alongside Kevin Doyle as his striking partner.

On the opposite wing, we have decided to play the ever improving Aiden McGeady, who has set the Russian Top League on fire this season. We don’t expect him to have lost any of his pace or trickery by the time of the next World Cup, though we do expect him to be a more mature player with a better end product at international level. Up front, we have gone for the ever reliable Kevin Doyle – a quality striker with phenomenal work-rate.

The rest of the squad will still have some old faces in it, such as the then 35-year-old Damien Duff and Richard Dunne, and Robbie Keane, who will turn 34 mid-tournament. Anthony Stokes knows where the goal is and might be good to bring on late as a game changer, as may Shane Long. It will be interesting to see how far Iverness’s Adam Rooney has progressed – will he be good enough then to make the squad?

Squad game

Marc Wilson will be in the final 23, and in contention for a place in either defence or midfield, while Keith Fahey will be 31 and Stephen Hunt will be still only 32, and they will be there-or-thereabouts. Whether Jamie O’Hara, Mark Noble and Utrect’s Barry Maguire have changed their nationality in the mean time, however, remains to be seen. They are possibly more likely to be in the squad than Stephen Ireland, unless the Cork man stops acting the tit. He’ll be pushing 28, though, so hopefully he’ll have used that time to grow up.

Defensive cover will be provided by the likes or Sean St Ledger and Darren O’Dea. As for who the manager will be, it is a bit early to tell. It would be nice to think we could have a former Irish international taking the reins. Owen Coyle might be hard to persuade, but Newcastle's Chris Hughton, or Doncaster Rovers' Sean O'Driscoll could perhaps be worth looking at. Perhaps even 37-year-old Kevin Kilbane might get the nod, though hopefully not as player-manager (as loyal a servant as he has been).