Ireland v Germany: Trappatoni backs his side to get a result

Giovanni Trapattoni believes the Republic of Ireland can compete with Germany in Friday’s 2014 World Cup qualifier at the Aviva Stadium.

Ireland were 2-1 winners in their opening Group C game against Kazakhstan, while Joachim Löw’s men beat the Faroe Islands and Austria to move into first place.

Trapattoni’s men failed to pick up a single point in a disastrous Euro 2012 campaign, but the 71-year-old insisted he was proud of his squad’s efforts and will continue to be whatever the result against Germany.

“I will be proud if we can win or draw because I have studied particularly what Germany have tried to do, and we must do what we can to contain them.

“They have the quality of [Thomas] Muller, [Mesut] Ozil, [Miroslav] Klose, [Mario] Gomez, [Mario] Gotze, [Lukas] Podolski – unfortunately, we don’t have that kind of player.

“But we have our qualities and with our qualities, we can confront Germany.

“I am proud of this team. We have achieved very important results with our quality, with our attitude. That’s what we can be proud of.”

Trapattoni has come under increasing pressure in recent months following the disappointing results at the European championship, but the Italian pointed out the progress Ireland have made during his reign.

“In the last three years with Ireland, we are proud of what we have done. Without France, we could have been at the World Cup,” he added.

“But now we have changed the team and brought in younger players – this team is very, very young.

“One eye is on the result and one eye is on the ranking. Three years ago, our ranking was far away from where it is now. We have improved.”

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