It was mission accomplished for Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni when he gave his assessment of the 1-0 win over Cyprus at Croke Park on Wednesday in the 2010 World Cup qualifier.
“This is a great victory,” said the Italian. ”I said to my players on Tuesday that, tomorrow we look to play well, but the result is most important. The performance comes and goes but the results stays.
“We got a great start with the goal but we stopped playing a bit. The last time we played Cyprus here we drew 1-1 and Ireland lost 5-2 in Cyprus as well. In future, we can play with more confidence.
"I thought Cyprus pushed and pushed. Cyprus played well. All their players played well with confidence. Our defenders were very strong. We didn't have any real difficulties. I like Cyprus though. They have a lot of good players.
“But we got this very important win and I want to congratulate the players because they played the final minutes with so much heart.”
He added: "Damien Duff is one of the stronger players in the team. I thought (Aiden) McGeady had great qualities too. Their specialty is running down the wings but I thought they suffered a bit with two in the centre of midfield.
“In this team we haven't had time to look and check out another scheme like three in midfield or another player in attack. In November, in the friendly (against Poland), we maybe look at the three in midfield.”
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