AT THE start of the night Slaven Bilic had been bemused by the suggestion that the game might be called off because of the storm that struck shortly before kick-off time with the Croatia boss exclaiming that there “would never be any football played in England or Ireland if they stopped playing because of rain”.
By the end, he didn’t seem entirely convinced that he was any better off for it having gone ahead with Giovanni Trapattoni’s opposite number admitting that he had travelled a fair distance to see precisely what he had expected.
“Yes, it was very similar,” he said. “I saw nothing new to be fair. It was printed in Croatia that someone had, not twisted my words, but made it sound like I said you don’t have a good team and blah, blah, blah.
“But it’s totally nonsense, I have a big respect for your team. I played against your team. We played last summer and it’s unbelievably competitive team, very solid.
“They play very simple football. They don’t take a lot of risks but they are still dangerous with four really good forwards, two strikers and two wide men who are very quick. One against one they can decide the game in a split-second. With such a simple game they still created three or four great chances.”
Ireland’s main achievement last night was to emerge with yet another clean sheet and 11 in 14 is a record that would impress any manager. Bilic is certainly that, but he is not, he insists, all that surprised.
“You can’t create many chances against them,” he admits. “It’s really hard to have a clear chance against them. The way they are defending as a team and a back four, it’s quite impressive.
“Their main man is Richard Dunne, he’s a leader, an organiser. He’s a great player. I admire him. Then (when the pair were both at Everton) he was young, but still you could see that he’s going to do it on the big stage, in the big time. He’s done it and I’m so glad for him. He’s a great guy and also a great player.”
After the game Dunne spoke about how the players’ minds are firmly on Sunday’s game.
“It’s very hard because it’s a week away from the biggest games of our lives and, as much as we don’t want to lose, we don’t want to get injured and that all takes effect on the game,” said Dunne. “We’re happy because we’ve done our bit, we’ve got a bit of fitness out of it and we’re still unbeaten going into the tournament.”
That Dunne will anchor the team in Poland is, barring injuries, beyond doubt, but Bilic maintains that he will not read too much into Trapattoni’s decision to name the 11 that started for Ireland last night as the team for the game in Poznan next Sunday.
“He can say whatever he wants,” he says of his opposite number. “Maybe it’s true, maybe it’s not true. We will find out the team an hour before the game.
“It could be this team, it could be with Shane Long or a little bit of a surprise would be James McClean. But more or less they are going to be like this.”
Bilic described the loss yesterday of Ivica Olic as “a disaster” but says that his side must pick themselves up and aim for three points in what he sees as a critical first game.
“With the greatest respect to you, we see our chances against Ireland, as you see your chances against us. It’s normal. Spain are the clear favourites.”
