World Cup Revenge on Tap.

GARY Breen almost allowed a smirk to cross his face when he arrived home from training late last Friday evening and caught the tail end of the World Cup draw.

It wasn’t the prospect of a showdown with French legend Thierry Henry that caught the Sunderland defender’s attention as the finalities of Group 4 sorted themselves out.

Nor was that he amused at the thought of a return to Limassol or a first ever meeting with the Israelis or the part-timers of the Faeroe Islands.

No, just one team dominated Breen’s thoughts as he looked ahead to a qualifying campaign that won’t begin for at least another 10 months, a campaign full of so many ifs, buts and maybes.

Where, for example, will Ireland play their home games? Croke Park if Breen has his way.

Can Brian Kerr’s Basel failures even dream of thwarting Henry, Vieira and company? Yes, if they play like they did in the last World Cup qualifiers insists the man who lit up the Orient in the summer of 2002.

And how will Ireland cope with the revenge factor once they come face to face with Switzerland for the second group series in a row.

“I am sure that is the big question on every Irish fans lips right now and I know it is the question that will dominate the minds of all the Irish players in the coming months whenever we look at that group,” insisted Breen.

“I know it is great to be in there with the French and I am really looking forward to playing them home and away but it was the Swiss games that really focussed my mind when I saw that draw on Friday evening.

“We owe them one, more than anyone can imagine. I can’t even start to think about the game in Basel without feeling a sickness in my stomach and I know that the only way to get rid of that memory now is to show them what we can really do in this World Cup group.

“We didn’t do ourselves justice in Dublin or Basel against Switzerland the last time around and I am sure they will know that as well as we will. Sure, they are going to the European Championships but I don’t think they will set the world on fire down in Portugal and by the time we play them again, several of their big names may have retired.

“We are a better team that Switzerland. The European Championship qualifiers didn’t prove that but the World Cup just might.”

That European Champion-ship defeat in Basel hurt Gary Breen. And like boss Brian Kerr, he is still hurting at the memory of it all.

“I can take defeat when it is justified, I just cannot take defeat when we don’t put up a fight,” he admitted candidly.

“Some have said that we let the most important people in the world down that night in terms of the fans and that is right but just as crucially we let ourselves down and that hurts just as much.

“It’s not that we didn’t give 100%. We did and we always do. I have never played for my country and not given 100% and I will never allow that to happen for the rest of my international career.

“But what still hurts me is the fact that we seemed to lack the fighting spirit that drove us on so much in the past. People have given us stick over results in years gone by but they have never been able to accuse an Irish team of being out-fought until now and that disturbs me.

“I have the video of that Swiss game at home but it’s still in the packaging and that’s where it is going to stay. I can’t bring myself to put the tape into the video player and watch the game, that’s how much it affected me and I know it hurt the other players as well.

“The only way to put it right now is to get our revenge on the Swiss in this World Cup group.”