Brazil friendly?

[gspain]

England are playing Egypt on March 3rd at Wembley. Not sure we'd be allowed to play in London that night but maybe the night before.

[elroy]

Would be a very bad PR move for the FAI to play the game in the UK. There is alot of goodwill towards the Irish team at the moment, after the paris saga so i think a friendly against Brazil would sell Croker out (i think it did last time as well). Would be better if the game was on a wkd.

It will be likely to be the last game in Croker, a bit of negotiating will be required but Im sure the GAA may be flexible on this. They are going to lose out alot on rent after this year so best to maximise the final years return. They wont get enough concerts in future years to replace the FAI/IRFU revenue and the aviva deal means there wont be any football/rugby games there.

[gspain]

Would be a very bad PR move for the FAI to play the game in the UK. There is alot of goodwill towards the Irish team at the moment, after the paris saga so i think a friendly against Brazil would sell Croker out (i think it did last time as well). Would be better if the game was on a wkd.

It will be likely to be the last game in Croker, a bit of negotiating will be required but Im sure the GAA may be flexible on this. They are going to lose out alot on rent after this year so best to maximise the final years return. They wont get enough concerts in future years to replace the FAI/IRFU revenue and the aviva deal means there wont be any football/rugby games there.

Game must be on Wed 3rd (may allow Tuesday 2nd).

I can't see it selling out not with Brazil here for the 3rd time in 6 years. It didn't sellout last time.

I suspect the posturing about the venue is to get the GAA to do a deal. I can't see them budging though.

[Schumi]

A piece on RTE seems to suggest that the friendly is related to FIFA attempts to keep the FAI happy.
http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2009/1221/delaneyj.html

[elroy]

I can't see it selling out not with Brazil here for the 3rd time in 6 years. It didn't sellout last time.

Not sell out but was in the region of 70k, im sure the fai would happily take that again.

A piece on RTE seems to suggest that the friendly is related to FIFA attempts to keep the FAI happy.
http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2009/1221/delaneyj.html

Have a feeling FIFA may have organised the friendly alright, perhaps they are paying a portion/all of Brazils fee? Better than some poxy award anyways.

[EastTerracer]

England are playing Egypt on March 3rd at Wembley. Not sure we'd be allowed to play in London that night but maybe the night before.

I think this would definitely throw any London venues into doubt although there was a night in 2007 when London hosted 4 International matches on the same night:

Brazil v Portugal : Emirates
Nigeria v Ghana : Brentford
Greece v South Korea : Craven Cottage
Australia v Denmark : Loftus Road

Obviously England playing in North London would be a completely different scenario though so I think Dublin and Manchester would be favourites at this stage.

[geysir]

70k at the last Brazil friendly, after a dire campaign and with Givens as caretaker.
The omens should surely point to a higher profile game this time around.

[irishultra]

Ah London what a city.

[philliyk]

Anyone any further info as where this game will be played or when they will announce it??

[geysir]

The latest sports news speculation was on 4 venues, Celtic Pk, Glazer Pk. Emirates and Croker.
Keep tuned in for further news.

[shakermaker1982]

Emirates or OT please.

[drummerboy]

According to Des Cahill on the news this morning, its looks like its going to be the Emirates.

[gspain]

According to Des Cahill on the news this morning, its looks like its going to be the Emirates.

UEFA website claims our U21 game v Armenia is now on Wednesday March 3rd in Tallaght (moved from Tuesday).

The significant thing in that is there is no way that game would be moved if we were playing Brazil in Dublin on the 3rd.

Of course we could still play in Dublin on the 2nd but my reading of this is that the Emirates on the 2nd is more likely. England play in Wembley on the 3rd so 2 games of that magnitude in the same city on the same night probably wouldn't get police approval.

Today's Indo claim the GAA offered to lower their fee from €1.5 million but couldn't do a deal with Kentaro.

16 euro return incl T&C on Ryanair to Luton for the Tuesday/back wed for those who fancy a gamble. You could even drive a rental car to Manchester and back as well if the venue is wrong.

[twoenz]

I'm tempted to go to this if it's in the UK. No interest in going to the game in Dublin. The 2004 friendly was terrible, me and my mate ended up at a corporate thing, had a dinner that Ray Houghton spoke at and the guy beside me at the table was yacking about how he didn't know anything about football, but thought it was a great way to entertain clients.

They gave us all an umbro polo shirt, with the match date inscribed on it. Every one was in XL. Sums up the crowd they were aiming at.

[geysir]

Considering an extra €500,000 (approx) rent for Croke Park,
is it still not a false economy to schedule the game outside Ireland?

[elroy]

Considering an extra €500,000 (approx) rent for Croke Park,
is it still not a false economy to schedule the game outside Ireland?

I dont think it will reflect too well on the FAI if the game is scheduled outside Ireland. You can be sure the press will scold the FAI rather than the gaa in any case. Rumours of the rent for croker more than double that for emirates appears to be correct and right.

Are the FAI getting this friendly for free?? Surely its more than a coincidence that this friendly was arranged quite quickly after the 'moral compo' comment by our friend Sepp.

[Greenforever]

I dont think it will reflect too well on the FAI if the game is scheduled outside Ireland. You can be sure the press will scold the FAI rather than the gaa in any case. Rumours of the rent for croker more than double that for emirates appears to be correct and right.

Are the FAI getting this friendly for free?? Surely its more than a coincidence that this friendly was arranged quite quickly after the 'moral compo' comment by our friend Sepp.

Why should it be held in Ireland, it's not been organised by the FAI as a home game, they are merely receiving a fee for playing, which is the normal for the away team.

Also as its not an FAI game block bookers wont be obliged to buy tickets and this would in my opinion result in a crowd of c30K unless ticket prices are droped drastically.

Anyway Ive just booked Ryanair to GAtwick on Tues back Weds for €20 inc taxes etc so heres hoping!

[endabob1]

Moving it to London is a terrible move by the FAI & I think it may well be something of a false economy as pointed out, will they sell 60,000 tickets in London?

[gspain]

confirmed for the Emirates on Tuesday March 2nd on www.fai.ie. kickoff time and ticket details tbc

[gspain]

Moving it to London is a terrible move by the FAI & I think it may well be something of a false economy as pointed out, will they sell 60,000 tickets in London?

The FAI did not pick the venue. Kentaro paid the FAI a fee to play the game. They picked the venue. We played Norway in Oslo 2 years ago and Nigeria in Fulham last year. We can't play all our friendlies at home.

No doubt the GAA will try and ensure negative publicity for the FAI. However if they were anyway competitive with the Emirates they would have surely got the game in Croke Park. Kentaro are run by business people. They obviously looked at a number of venues and the Emirates clearly made the most sense financially.