SOCCER:THINGS IN the Ireland camp may have moved on to the extent that, for the moment at least, Andy Reid's absence from a squad barely merits a mention but Giovanni Trapattoni must have known as well as the rest of us that he and 40 reporters weren't all going to sit in a room together for any length of time yesterday without Stephen Ireland's name cropping up in conversation.

“I thought this would be the first question,” said the Italian, and not in a way that suggested he was entirely thrilled by being proven right. “We were very clear about Stephen. This is the last time I will speak about this name because we have to think about Bulgaria or Italy.

“Stephen is not my son and I cannot force him (to play). If you want to try to force him, do. You pray, I no. Will he come back? Maybe. But my feeling is that he won’t come back. I have not spoken to him. He’s not my son. Now, it’s up to him, okay. It’s clear?”

His resolve on the matter held until the broadcast media left the room and there were only newspaper journalists present, at which stage the subject came up again. He was asked why, having been at Sunday’s game between Chelsea and Manchester City, he hadn’t availed of the opportunity to, well, engage with the Corkman.

“Why?” he asked with a hint of exasperation. “In the newspaper, the day before, he said that he wishes not to come back. He said, ‘I am not ready’. Do you want to try? Also, yesterday, I knew very well that Mark Hughes, his coach, his boss, had said: ‘I think he’s not ready to come back’. So, in the end, you have to respect the team, the national team. We have other national players.”

Asked why he believes the 22-year-old shows continued reluctance to end his international exile, he shrugged with trademark exaggerated bewilderment.

“I don’t know why, I asked him 10 months ago but I don’t know. On the pitch, the players are friends but when I spoke with him, he was looking down rather than in my eyes. I think, obviously not on the pitch, I think as a person he is very shy, I don’t know.

“When he finishes his career he might have regrets, he might say: ‘When I was young, why did I not play with my national team?’ He is not my son, though, and at the moment it is not our job.”