Trapattoni relishes Limerick visit

Republic of Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni is eagerly-looking forward to his side’s clash with Australia in Thomond Park.
On Sunday afternoon Giovanni Trapattoni, along with FAI CEO John Delaney, visited Gleeson Sports Scene in Limerick city to launch 1,000 pre-release tickets for the match against the Socceroos on Wednesday, August 12 (kick-off 7.30pm).
“I am looking forward to returning to Limerick in August to play Australia,” Giovanni Trapattoni told Leader Sport.
“The game will be a good opportunity to prepare for the important World Cup qualifier against Cyprus on September 5.
“I hope it will give everyone in the mid-west an opportunity to get behind the team against a highly-rated Australian side. Limerick is a very nice place. It’s important to us to play well, to show people what our football is about and to get more kids in the region playing football.
“We believe that the facilities are there, the stadium is really good and we believe that the fans will come to the stadium for this occasion.
“This will give the fans an opportunity to watch us. Until now they have only been able to see us on television and we wanted to change that.
“We hope people will come and join us in Thomond Park.”
Trapattoni made an appearance in Limerick following the Republic of Ireland’s one-all draw in Sofia on Saturday night - a result which should at the very least secure a World Cup play-off spot for Ireland while it also ended Bulgaria’s qualification hopes.
The Republic now trail group leaders Italy by a point while the Italians hold a game in hand over Ireland.
Ireland’s next competitive fixture is against away to Cyprus on Sept. 5 and Giovanni Trapattoni will use the game against Australia at Thomond Park as a warm-up for that critical encounter. The Republic will play a second international friendly against South Africa on Tuesday, September 8 in Thomond Park before they complete their qualifying campaign against Italy and Montenegro.
Pim Verbeek’s Australian side became the second team, mere hours after Japan, to qualify for the World Cup on Saturday following their nil-all draw away to Qatar - the Australians remain unbeaten in their 2010 campaign and should feature players like Scott McDonald (Celtic), Harry Kewell (Galatasaray) and Tim Cahill (Everton) for their visit to Limerick. The game against Australia respresents the first time the Irish senior team has ever played in Limerick and will be the first meeting of the sides since 2003 when the Irish beat the Socceroos 2-1 at Lansdowne Road.
The Republic of Ireland have clashed with South Africa on one previous occasion - nine years ago (2000) Ireland beat the Bafana Bafana in New Jersey. South Africa are coached by Brazil’s Joel Santana, will feature players like Blackburn’s Benni McCarthy and as hosts of the 2010 World Cup will become the African nation to host the World Cup.
FAI CEO John Delaney is confident that the national association can sell out both games at Thomond Park: “The idea of coming down here is to promote the games in the mid-west. We’ve had a huge reaction to them. The reaction to the games has been very, very strong. I think we’ll have a full house for both games.
“On the back of the result against Bulgaria there is momentum there. You can feel it everywhere you go. There’s a positive vibe there now.


“The game against South Africa in September will be more difficult to sell. Everyone will want to be at the first game against Australia.
“But I think, if Giovanni introduces new players to the team for the game against South Africa, people will be interested in seeing those new players play. The squad is evolving and after a competitive game against Cyprus Giovanni will be trying out players against South Africa, but I still expect that to be an exciting game. This is a great opportunity for the fans to see international football in Limerick and it should be a great occasion.”
To mark Giovanni Trapattoni’s visit to Limerick the FAI have launched 1,000 €25 pre-release tickets which will be available exclusively from Gleeson Sports Scene (25 upper William Street, Limerick) from Monday, June 8 - these pre-release tickets are limited and are expected to sell quickly.
Tickets will go on public sale at the end of June through ticketmaster.ie, through Gleeson Sports Scene in Limerick city and through a selection of ticketmaster outlets in the Munster region.
Details of these outlets will be published shortly on fai.ie. Tickets will be made available at €25 (North and South terrace), €35 (East and West terrace) and €55 (East and West stands) while 2,000 €7 tickets will be made available for schoolboy and schoolgirl clubs throughout the country.

Brian McDonnell

'It’s a real honour for us to play an international match in what is now a fabulous stadium'

THE visit of Australia to Thomond Park on August 12 next could be the first of three soccer internationals to be staged in Limerick inside the next 12 months.
Speaking in the home of Munster rugby yesterday, where he confirmed this summer’s international soccer friendly, John Delaney, Chief Executive Officer of the Football Association of Ireland, said that further dates were available for soccer internationals in Limerick.
“It’s one of a couple of internationals that we would like to play over a course of time,” Delaney told Leader Sport when announcing the visit of the Socceroos.
“There are some dates that we can look at and with dates available we will now look for opposition.
“We will look at other dates - there could be one in September and one in the New Year,” said the FAI’s CEO.
September 9 is a possible date for the second of three possible matches.


“We are away to Cyprus (September 5) and then there is a Wednesday that is free to us - we will talk to other opposition and Giovanni (Trapattoni),” explained Delaney.
“We had opportunities to play friendlies away in August, but when the possibility of playing in Thomond Park became available - the idea of coming here was something that you couldn’d but do,” explained Delaney.
“I am very happy to have reached this agreement with Thomond Park Stadium. I thank the stadium’s management and board for their foresight in opening up Thomond Park to other sports which will enable us to bring senior international football to Limerick for the first time. Thomond Park is a great sporting venue and we look forward to an exciting game against Australia in August.”
Delaney said that he expects a capacity crowd of 26,000.
“When you have football stars like Robbie Keane, Damien Duff, Richard Dunne, Shay Given and Giovanni Trapattoni coming down as manager with Tardelli and Liam Brady, it’s a huge attraction. When it was first mooted about a month ago that there was the possibility of a game being played here, the reaction was huge - we were rang every day to know when it was on and who we were playing,” outlined Delaney.
Pim Verbeek’s Australian side is currently ranked 27th in the FIFA world rankings, two places above the Republic of Ireland.
The Socceroos are likely to include the likes of Scott McDonald (Celtic), Harry Kewell (Galatasaray) and Tim Cahill (Everton).
“This completes the hat-trick - Australia have played here in rugby, they are coming for the International Rules in October and now the soccer,” said Delaney, who was visiting Thomond Park for the first time since its re-development.
“It’s a real honour for us to play an international match in what is now a fabulous stadium,” he said.
The FAI are set to meet with the University of Limerick regarding the possibility of using the university facilities for training purposes.
“I met Dave Mahedy at the rugby match on Saturday and I am sure that he would love us to be out there - we play our Kennedy Cup out there every year. It would be the ideal venue for the players to train.
“We haven’t spoken to any hotels yet, but with the Castletroy Park now open, something like that would work very well,” said the CEO.
John Delaney also confirmed that Thomond Park could be used if the FAI and the IFA proceed with proposals to co-host the 2013 European under-21 championships.
“We have spoken to the IFA on a number of occasions and spoke with them yesterday (Sunday) about co-hosting a European under-21 tournament together. That has become a big tournament and it is something that we had agreed to co-bid before with the IFA, but they couldn’t meet stadium criteria,” explained Delaney.
“It is now a possibility with Thomond, the Aviva Stadium and Tallaght, which will have 6,200 seats by June,” he outlined.
The IFA would offer Windsor Park or a re-developed Brandywell.

Jerome O'Connell

Republic of Ireland set to face Australia's Socceroos at Thomond Park

THOMOND Park have confirmed this morning that the Republic of Ireland will face Australia at the Limerick venue on August 12.
The FAI and Thomond Park Stadium today announced that they have reached an agreement to hold a soccer game for the first time in the re-developed Limerick stadium.
The game will be the first ever senior international fixture to be played by the Boys in Green in Limerick and will give the large number of football fans in the region a rare opportunity to see a senior international match in the mid-west.
Pim Verbeek’s Australian side is currently ranked 27th in the FIFA world rankings, two places above Ireland and includes many players well known to Irish football fans including Scott McDonald (Celtic), Harry Kewell (Galatasaray) and Tim Cahill (Everton).

The friendly will provide Ireland with an opportunity to prepare for their World Cup qualifier against Cyprus on September 5.
Ticket and event information will be made available closer to the match date on both www.fai.ie and www.thomondpark.ie

Brian McDonnell