Trapattoni relishes Republic job

Giovanni Trapattoni has hailed his appointment as Republic of Ireland boss as "the right job at the right time".

"When asked if I would be interested in becoming Republic of Ireland manager, I became very excited," said Trapattoni.

"I have always sought out a challenge to bring out the best in me. I needed a new experience and this is the one.

"We will talk to those players who have retired from international football and they have to decide over the next few weeks if they want to be involved."

Trapattoni was speaking after arriving in Dublin this week and impressed a packed audience inside the Concert Hall at the RDS with his grasp of English.

The Italian has signed a two-year contract, with the hope that he will lead the Republic to the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa.

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"I don't think I've ever been this excited about a campaign."
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"It will be difficult as we are in a tough group with five other very good teams, but I trust my team and we will work together.

"It would be a great honour to qualify, but first we have two very important weeks coming up at the end of this month."

The Republic boss will trim down his squad from the 40 players announced by Liam Brady last month to 28 prior to a one-week training camp in Portugal, followed by matches against Serbia at Croke Park on 24 May, and Colombia at Craven Cottage five days later.

"We will use the training camp in Portugal to get our ideas across to the players," confirmed Trapattoni, who has already done his homework on his new charges, watching up to 30 DVDs.

Trappatoni has an experienced backroom team which includes Marco Tardelli, Brady, Frank Stapleton and Mick Martin.

The Republic's World Cup qualifying campaign will begin in September.

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