MARTIN O’Neill would beg to differ but the conventional wisdom is that an international team can be vulnerable coming off the back of a relatively successful appearance at a major championships.
You can still feel the after-glow around the Irish camp from Euro 2016 as they take their first tentative steps on the road to the World Cup finals in Russia against Serbia tonight.
Their hosts, forlorn spectators of Euro 2016 two months ago, have been waiting in the bushes of Belgrade for Ireland’s visit the entire summer.
The Serbs are capable of anything.
They have the ability to extinguish that warm after-glow among O’Neill’s squad with a couple of fleet-footed counter-attacks – even without their suspended pair of star players, Aleksandar Kolarov of Manchester City and Nemanja Matic of Chelsea.
Equally, their notoriously wayward temperament makes them a completely unpredictable opponent.
Their stab at Euro 2016 qualification was nothing short of a disaster, winning just two games out of eight and finishing behind Portugal, Albania and Denmark.
But the Serbs are under new management. Tonight is their shot at redemption. The wily Slavoljub Muslin has made all the right noises since taking charge in May. But the Serbs have been here a thousand times before.
Few can deny the individual qualities Serbia possess but they appear to lack the key ingredient in international football: togetherness – something the Irish have in spades.
“Passion”, according to Muslin, is what the Serb players have been lacking over the last three failed qualification bids.
And the home supporters are rarely the team’s ally as the 55,000 capacity stadium is expected to be only half full.
For the home side, a quick start is everything this evening.
But what have the Irish got to offer in Belgrade?
Nothing could really be gleaned from last Wednesday night’s 4-0 win over Oman, flimsy opposition to say the least.
And if O’Neill has any reservations about the capabilities of his team, he wasn’t showing them.
He accentuated every positive that was going. The team, he says, are better and stronger for their experiences of Euro 2016 and he is less jittery entering his second qualification campaign compared to his first.
“You have to treat this competition completely differently [from Euro 2016],” said O’Neill.
“Try and use the experiences we’ve had both in qualification and in France to some sort of advantage. Players like Jeff Hendrick, Robbie Brady – players that made a good impression – you want them to continue with confidence.”
Hendrick and Brady are expected to dovetail in midfield either side of defensive anchor Glenn Whelan, while O’Neill sounded hopeful of injured pair Seamus Coleman and John O’Shea playing in Belgrade.
“Seamus Coleman played up to the start of the season. He got injured the Thursday before the season was to start,” said the manager.
“Seamus is naturally fit and John has played – not only has he played, he played in midfield in one of Sunderland’s games. For John, that’s the equivalent of about eight games. So he should be okay.”
Elsewhere in the team, a thick layer of confidence was stitched to ‘keeper Darren Randolph’s back after Euro 2016 even though he still isn’t first choice at West Ham.
And the gauntlet continues to be thrown down to Shane Long to be a “great goalscorer rather than a scorer of great goals” for the Republic of Ireland, while fit-again Jonathan Walters looked sharper than most in the Oman win.
“We’ve a lot of desire in the team and we showed a lot of ability in France,” O’Neill added, “but that competition is now over and it’s a matter of starting again.
“Everyone starts afresh; everyone is looking forward to it and everyone in the group thinks they’ve got a chance of qualifying and I just feel this game here will be exceptionally difficult.
“Serbia are strong and there’s a rejuvenation about them. Obviously Wales did brilliantly [at Euro 2016], Austria obviously didn’t do so well but they’re a much, much better side than their results suggest.
“And obviously you have Georgia and Moldova who will expect to win games. I just think first, second and third are going to be pretty much close together. I think it will go down to the last couple of games.”
O’Neill rejected the notion of playing for a draw in Belgrade – but the assembled media got the impression he would bite the arm off their hosts for a share of the spoils.
“I don’t think it’s possible to start to play for a draw,” he said. “[But] Any team that wins away from home in this group will do very, very well.”
After the highs of Lille, it’s back to the grind of qualification football again for the Irish. A share of the spoils it is then.
