kev107
13/09/2007, 1:30 PM
FAI officials believe that the senior international squad is making progress despite last night’s disappointing result in Prague against the Czech Republic. Ireland lost 1-0 and saw control of their Euro 2008 qualification hopes slip out of their hands.
Speaking to www.fai.ie, FAI President David Blood said: “Last night’s defeat was the first in ten games and I thought that the team deserved something for their display. They showed great character to recover from the setback of conceding an early goal and came close to equalising on several occasions.
“Like everybody else, the FAI is disappointed with the result in Prague but the performance offers a lot of hope for the future. Stephen, his backroom team and the players must continue the work they are doing.
“The senior international team is in transition. In the nine games we have played in this campaign Stephen has used 32 players which is well above the average of 21 over the previous ten campaigns. In addition 15 players have been given their first taste of competitive action and I have no doubt more will follow in the remaining three games.
“Stephen is a young manager but he has already put his stamp on the squad and has been instrumental in fast-tracking young emerging talent through the ranks.
“While qualification for Euro 2008 is now out of our own control we still want to finish as high as possible in the group and also improve our seeding for the 2010 World Cup campaign ahead of the draw on November 25.”
Chief Executive John Delaney said the association is firmly focused on ensuring that future transition periods will not require the type of surgery currently being performed by Staunton
“We are taking steps to ensure that we improve the conveyor belt of future talent coming through to our senior international team with the introduction of the Emerging Talent and High Performance Programmes and the creation of a National Academy at Abbotstown. The results of that investment won’t reap dividends immediately but will over the medium to long term..
“Despite their result last night, people now look on France as a footballing power and nobody refers to the wilderness years of French football when, after winning the European Championships in 1984 and finishing fourth in the 1982 World Cup and third in the 1986 World Cup, they failed to qualify for Euro ’88, Italia ’90, and US ’94. They did qualify for Euro ’92 but failed to win a game in the group stages.
“However, during that period they ploughed significant resources into the technical side of their game and have qualified for every tournament over the past ten years, winning the World Cup in ’98 and Euro 2000 as well as finishing runners-up in the 2006 World Cup and reaching the semi-finals of Euro ’96.
“The French Federation invested resources in the development of elite players and FAI is mirroring that strategy even though we are working off a much smaller population base and, therefore, reservoir of talent. We will spend €10m this year on our Development Plan and in the past eight years we have grown our coaching staff from two employees to over 80 today with more on the way.
“In addition to Emerging Talent and High Performance we also have development strategies for other key areas of our game while more, such as the review of the amateur and schoolboys game, are currently being devised.
“We are putting more coaches on the ground to work on the development of the game and our players. The FAI is determined that we improve our success rate in qualifying for major tournaments but the required level of success is created by hard work and patience and not by waving a magic wand.
“We are already making huge progress on key projects such as the construction of the New Stadium and the establishment of new headquarters for the association at Abbotstown as well as focusing on our core business of fostering and promoting the game at all levels. We have over 450,000 participants and are working hard to improve every aspect of the game. We have made tremendous strides over the past two years across the game and are determined to continue to build the game for the future.”
Speaking to www.fai.ie, FAI President David Blood said: “Last night’s defeat was the first in ten games and I thought that the team deserved something for their display. They showed great character to recover from the setback of conceding an early goal and came close to equalising on several occasions.
“Like everybody else, the FAI is disappointed with the result in Prague but the performance offers a lot of hope for the future. Stephen, his backroom team and the players must continue the work they are doing.
“The senior international team is in transition. In the nine games we have played in this campaign Stephen has used 32 players which is well above the average of 21 over the previous ten campaigns. In addition 15 players have been given their first taste of competitive action and I have no doubt more will follow in the remaining three games.
“Stephen is a young manager but he has already put his stamp on the squad and has been instrumental in fast-tracking young emerging talent through the ranks.
“While qualification for Euro 2008 is now out of our own control we still want to finish as high as possible in the group and also improve our seeding for the 2010 World Cup campaign ahead of the draw on November 25.”
Chief Executive John Delaney said the association is firmly focused on ensuring that future transition periods will not require the type of surgery currently being performed by Staunton
“We are taking steps to ensure that we improve the conveyor belt of future talent coming through to our senior international team with the introduction of the Emerging Talent and High Performance Programmes and the creation of a National Academy at Abbotstown. The results of that investment won’t reap dividends immediately but will over the medium to long term..
“Despite their result last night, people now look on France as a footballing power and nobody refers to the wilderness years of French football when, after winning the European Championships in 1984 and finishing fourth in the 1982 World Cup and third in the 1986 World Cup, they failed to qualify for Euro ’88, Italia ’90, and US ’94. They did qualify for Euro ’92 but failed to win a game in the group stages.
“However, during that period they ploughed significant resources into the technical side of their game and have qualified for every tournament over the past ten years, winning the World Cup in ’98 and Euro 2000 as well as finishing runners-up in the 2006 World Cup and reaching the semi-finals of Euro ’96.
“The French Federation invested resources in the development of elite players and FAI is mirroring that strategy even though we are working off a much smaller population base and, therefore, reservoir of talent. We will spend €10m this year on our Development Plan and in the past eight years we have grown our coaching staff from two employees to over 80 today with more on the way.
“In addition to Emerging Talent and High Performance we also have development strategies for other key areas of our game while more, such as the review of the amateur and schoolboys game, are currently being devised.
“We are putting more coaches on the ground to work on the development of the game and our players. The FAI is determined that we improve our success rate in qualifying for major tournaments but the required level of success is created by hard work and patience and not by waving a magic wand.
“We are already making huge progress on key projects such as the construction of the New Stadium and the establishment of new headquarters for the association at Abbotstown as well as focusing on our core business of fostering and promoting the game at all levels. We have over 450,000 participants and are working hard to improve every aspect of the game. We have made tremendous strides over the past two years across the game and are determined to continue to build the game for the future.”