QuoteI always considered Breen the very embodiment of the Irish team under McCarthy. Competent, occasionally excellent, for 90% of any given game, Breen (like the team as a whole) was always prone to at least one inexplicable, asinine and often disastrous schoolboy error in each match, usually resulting from a momentary lapse in concentration. Even as, in the absence of Kenny Cunnigham, he nursed Richard Dunne through the 2002 World Cup qualifying campaign while generally performing well himself, Breen always looked like a disaster waiting to happen.
The defining moment of this period in Breen's career came during the home leg of Ireland's play-off with Iran, and very nearly cost the Irish a place in the World Cup finals. Having defended fairly well for most of the game, Breen allowed Ali Karimi simply to glide past him, and only Shay Given's alertness and bravery prevented Karimi from scoring a potentially decisive away goal. Breen then attempted to kiss Given on the head, á la Blanc and Barthez; tellingly, he missed.
And then...transformation, beautiful, inexplicable transformation. At the 2002 World Cup, Breen, by now a free agent and free spirit, formed a partnership with Steve Staunton which was one of the most solid (if not quite the fastest) on show at the tournament, and he even scored the crucial second goal against Saudi Arabia (a very subtle finish for a centre-half.) After the World Cup, having unwisely turned down moves to Parma and Inter (apparently on the advice of Mick McCarthy, who suggested that playing in the most high-profile league in the world would jeopardise Breen's chances of being awarded the Irish captaincy - which he didn't receive anyway) Breen signed for West Ham. We all know the rest.
But here's the funny part; although he couldn't get a game for the worst team in the Premiership (okay, second-worst, just trying to stay in the good books here...) Breen continued to display his fine World Cup form for Ireland, which even survived Mick McCarthy's resignation and the appointment of Brian Kerr, who has reason to be thankful to Gary Breen for steering his side's defence through some dangerous waters in recent matches. If McCarthy can coax the same kind of performances out of Breen as he did at the World Cup, Sunderland will have signed a classy, confident, solid centre-half. If his form and morale dip, however, then...but let us not dwell on unpleasantness.
The signing of Breen is, in my opinion, a minor coup for Sunderland. But if you lot get your hands on the god that is Colin Healy, it will pale into the proverbial insignificance....
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