Republic of Ireland boss Giovanni Trapattoni has hinted he has all but decided on his team for the start of the World Cup qualifying campaign.The 69-year-old Italian will bring an end to his first fortnight spent working with the players when he sends them out against Colombia at Craven Cottage on Thursday evening.

Damien Delaney and Glenn Whelan, who made senior debuts in the 1-1 draw with Serbia at Croke Park on Saturday, will start again, and while Trapattoni may have a look at some of his emerging players when he makes his substitutions, the rest of the side has an experienced look about it.

The new manager included seven previously uncapped players in his first squad and has been impressed by what he has seen from many of them.

But he admits that by the time the opening qualifier against Georgia comes around in September, it will be experience and not youth at the forefront of his mind.

He said: "I want to look at the young players, and this 15 days has been for that situation.

"But I don't want to change the whole team. Maybe now I will look at one or two younger players, like Liam Miller or Glenn Whelan, and the same also with Damien Delaney.

"But you cannot change five or six players in two months and play a qualifier because experience in qualifiers is very, very important.

"When we play in Georgia and Bulgaria, I need players with personality who know international football.

"The younger ones can give us power and strength, but experience in international football is very important."

Ireland needed a late Andy Keogh equaliser to prevent Trapattoni from launching his reign with a defeat at the weekend against a technically superior Serbia side.

However, he believes Thursday's game will be an even tougher proposition against a youthful and pacy Colombian team.

Where the manager was happy to see his players work as a team on Saturday, he has challenged each of them to win their individual battle to see off the South Americans.

Trapattoni said: "Against Serbia, we showed we are a good team because we were compact.

"But the style is different. The Serbia players have a different style and qualities, but we were a very good team. I wasn't worried in the 90 minutes.

"Against Colombia, our players can show us what they can do because there will be direct individual contact.

"They have fast players - they are not compact like Serbia and they have individual quality in their strikers and they are very, very fast.

"It is different because against Serbia, we were compact as a team - against Colombia, it's important they win the duels against their direct opponent.

"It is a different match, but in every game, I hope we go a little bit further forward as a team."

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