Gio: McClean is rewarded

Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni said the 15 minute cameo for James McClean was a 'reward' for the Derry-born youngster.

The 72 year-old said after the game that “It was a reward for him and McGeady and Duff were doing well so there was no need to change and I wanted to show them my confidence, but I told McClean I wanted to play with him in the future also.”

In terms of the future Trapattoni spoke of, depending on circumstances, it could be in Poland. “We have time, every week we have injury or not, so what happens is we will continue with our team, so at the end of the league we have time to decide.”

Trapattoni also admitted he knew the Czechs would be good, and put the travelling side’s goal down as a “misunderstanding at the back”.

He added: “I was not surprised when I saw this team play well, and also achieve this advantage, and the advantage for them was not a great mistake but a misunderstanding, as when the defender went for the play it let another opponent free.”

Ireland’s unbeaten run now goes to twelve games, though a concurrent criticism leveled at Trapattoni is that he doesn’t shake it up in friendlies. The wily Italian claims, however, that even with the slight changes, a result and momentum is important. “The friendly games sometimes we have opportunity to watch, see or try other plays, but to watch also for the result. The result gives us confidence and security about our system.”

The Czech provided a stern test, but a test to which the experienced boss knew would exist in a game that he could play with his own “weapons”.

Trap said: “It was game where we could play with our own weapons and we knew exactly how they would play”.

The Italian believes that the draw was a fair result in the end, claiming that his side deserved the result.

“This is a very important situation for us, we had a good reaction in the second half, because after three minutes I checked the watch and we had a great opportunity, and they were superb in midfield, but we concede only this chance, the goal. In the second half we had more opportunities.”

Another point of interest was Robbie Keane’s imminent return to LA. “We saw Robbie in England, he scored a fantastic goal, he has a new energy, he is psychologically fresher. We’ve seen him play very well and the switch has done him a lot of good.” And Trap added that he wasn’t completely against Keane going back to LA as the spell with Aston Villa “renewed his self-confidence”.

Trapattoni will now turn to the Bosnia game in May, where the squad will start to take a more definite shape.