Now although it is said to be a friendly encounter, the host will be playing with the avid desire of winning at the end of the 90 minutes. The Republic of Ireland controversially lost their place to France in the finals of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Now, the team is firmly looking ahead to the 2012 European Championship. As legendary coach Giovanni Trappatoni explained, the Irish will use tonight’s encounter as a great occasion to prepare for the future. The Italian manager said:
"I’ve been saying since the past two years, when you wear this shirt, there is no such thing as a friendly game because it's our pride and the mentality of our country that are important. We have to build our mentality. I’m not arrogant, but we are sure we have a strong team."
The Republic of Ireland will certainly try to make things hard for 2010 World Cup ticketholders Paraguay at the Royal Dublin Society Arena. Despite sealing a good South American World Cup qualification campaign with a third place finish in the zone’s 10-team table, Paraguay haven’t really live up to the standard expected by their fans.
Whereas they defeated Korea DPR by a single goal to nil, they could only draw 1-1 against 2010 World Cup hosts South Africa. Paraguay will play Cote d’Ivoire next whereas the Republic of Ireland will face another test against Algeria on May 28th.
