Monday, November 8, 2010

Trap to blood new talent in Norway friendly


Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni has revealed he will blood some of the new Irish talent currently making waves for their club teams in the friendly against Norway at the Aviva Stadium on Wednesday week.

Trap included the uncapped trio of Séamus Coleman, Marc Wilson and Jonathan Walters in his 27-man preliminary squad for the workout against a side currently leading their Euro 2012 qualifying group ahead of Portugal and Denmark.

With one eye firmly fixed on the European qualifying game against Macedonia in March, Trapattoni admitted the team starting in eleven days' time will be strong but fringe players will get some game time over the ninety minutes.

"This game will be an opportunity for two or three young players like Keith Treacy, Séamus Coleman, Greg Cunningham and also Mark Wilson to face a strong team.

"There needs to be balance in our team between the new, young and senior. We can make six substations plus the goalkeeper during the game.

"A positive result will be good for morale because we felt aggrieved about drawing with Slovakia in the last game.

"We played well and missed a penalty. A win would have kept us top of table with Russia but that is gone and we have to think about the future. That starts with the friendly against Norway.

"They (Norway) haven't many creative players but they are strong, physical and tactical. I have watched them play against Portugal, France and Iceland and they are a strong team.