Giovanni Trapattoni gets tough with no-shows for Euro qualifiers • McCarthy pulled out of Nations Cup and Croatia friendly • Marc Wilson and Jon Walters also omitted for withdrawals http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/aug/23/giovanni-trapattoni-james-mccarthy-ireland guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 23 August 2011 20.37 BST The Republic of Ireland manager, Giovanni Trapattoni, has left James McCarthy, Marc Wilson and Jon Walters out of his squad for next month's Euro 2012 qualifiers against Slovakia and Russia. The Italian was unhappy that the Wigan Athletic midfielder McCarthy and the Stoke City pair of Walters and Wilson did not report for Carling Nations Cup duty in May and was further disappointed when McCarthy withdrew from the squad once again for the friendly with Croatia this month, in which the Republic of Ireland extended their unbeaten run to five games with a goalless draw in Dublin. In whittling his initial squad down to 25 on Tuesday, Trapattoni made his feelings abundantly clear, although McCarthy has been made available for selection for Ireland's Under-21 side and may yet return to contention should he be required. Trapattoni said: "Picking the final 25 players for the squad has not been an easy task, and unfortunately some players have been left out. We will continue to monitor their progress with their clubs and call them up if necessary." Wigan were adamant that McCarthy was struggling with an ankle injury when he initially failed to meet up with the Ireland squad. However, the former Italy manager Trapattoni believes that all players should report even if they are injured, so that they can be assessed by the Ireland medical staff. Paul McShane of Hull City and Everton's Seamus Coleman are also missing, but they have been omitted because of injury. Sunderland's defender John O'Shea is included in the squad , however, despite having yet to play a competitive game for his new club because of a hamstring problem picked up in pre-season. There are places too for the Republic's most-capped internationals Shay Given (114 caps) and Kevin Kilbane (110) – now at Derby County – as well as Robbie Keane (108), who scored on his debut for the Los Angeles Galaxy on Saturday following his recent transfer from Spurs. Ireland face Slovakia at the Aviva Stadium on 2 September and Russia in Moscow four days later in a double-header that may well determine the outcome of Group B. The three sides are level at the top of the qualifying group on 13 points each, though the Republic and Russia share a superior goal difference to Slovakia. Russia won 3-2 in Dublin on 8 October but Trapattoni's side bounced back from that disappointment to claim a point in Slovakia four days later. Home and away victories against Macedonia since then have kept the Republic firmly in the race for qualification for the finals of a major tournament for the first time since the 2002 World Cup, with Russia managing only a draw in Armenia in March. Squad: Given (Aston Villa), Westwood (Sunderland), Forde (Millwall); O'Shea (Sunderland), Foley (Wolves), Kelly (Fulham), Ward (Wolves), Dunne (Aston Villa), Kilbane (Derby), St Ledger (Leicester), O'Dea (Leeds), Whelan (Stoke), Gibson (Manchester United), Andrews (Ipswich), Fahey (Birmingham), Keogh (Leeds), Duff (Fulham), McGeady (Spartak Moscow), Hunt (Wolves), Lawrence (Portsmouth), Treacy (Burnley), Keane (LA Galaxy), Doyle (Wolves), Long (West Brom), Cox (West Brom). I can't say I disagree with his stance, if they want to play they should turn up when called
Cant say Im surprised he has been tough on players who pi$$ him off, its not as if its the first time he has done it.
Not overly surprised myself. Hopefully it doesn't come back to haunt him, if we were trailing by a goal to Slovakia or Russia over the next 2 weeks McCarthy and Walters would have been handy options to bring off the bench.
Yes i think it is harsh on Walters. He would have been a very handy player to have for the two games coming up.
I still think Cox and Long are decent options from the bench and i don't think it's as big a deal as some of the papers are making out. IMO Cox jumped ahead of Walters from the games he has played which is far enough.
I hope that this does not come back to haunt Ireland's fans and players. Trap won't be there forever and if we do not succeed now trap gone and then maybe mc cartney does a Stephen Ireland and won't play for his country. He was wrong in what he done but he young and he better than some picked.
Agree you have to show some sort of einsteinium and desire if you want to be picked for international football, and includes turning up when you're called you can't expect a manager to be happy if you just appear for the big games
While Trap is right to tell them to F.O. truth is, it's really a case of the horse has already bolted .... the lads, particularly McCarthy, has failed to turn up so maybe it's time to just tell him to go spend some quality time with Stephen Ireland. We don't have a massive number of players to pick from, when it comes down to Internationals and I'd love to have every possible player available to us but all said and done, I don't want someone who is not fully committed and expect thats where Trap is coming from too. Now, how do we get Kelly to declare for Ireland (particularly, given he's played schoolboy for England and is also called up for the U21 team, I think) ???
Very harsh on the stoke duo, Walters and Wilson. Both players turned up to the FAI doctor for the last game. Both players should be close to the starting XI in my opinion.
I thought I might come into this thread and see people defending McCarthy. I'm glad that's not the case. There's been far too many instances with this lad pulling out of squads and I'd rather pick someone from the league of Ireland who would kill themselves in an Irish shirt than a more gifted player who doesn't want to be there. It really bugs me to see players like McCarthy and Stokes,who've done nothing in the game,treating an international call up like it's a nuisance. McCarthy has just signed a new long term deal with wigan,so you'd think he relish the chance to play international football bearing in mind he won't get to experience European football anytime soon. He's still a young lad and has plenty of time to prove his commitment to playing for Ireland. But he needs to start by showing up for the 21's if selected.
I thought the issue here is that they didn't get in contact to say that they would not be coming, if this is the case I agree with them not being in the squad.
I don't really like Trap based on his negativity but with that said I feel we don't have the players to play an expansive game. Trap is making the most of what we have. I think 100% that he is right, it should be an honour to play for Ireland not a luxury, we're doing alright without Andy Reid and Stephen Ireland IMO.
Its a bad situation no matter what way u look at we havnt that big a pool of players to chose from manager is right in not takeing s"£$t from players who wont turn up for friendlies but hopefuly it wnt come back to haunt us in the long run.But they probably been told by clubs to be careful that if u get injured it jepodises your place place here which in fairness is where they make there bread and butter.And also the time of some of these games is a joke a week before the prem starts is stupid..
Considering the clubs pay the players wages should the players really have to turn up and "prove" how injured they really are? Just playing devil's advocate with that one. I also find it completely hypocritical that Trap gets upset when injured players don't turn up to be assessed by his medical team when Trap himself rarely if ever bothers his hole going to assess these players playing for their clubs while they are fully fit!