Cyprus V Republic of Ireland - Saturday, 5th September 2009 - World Cup 2010 Q

[BigmanCas]

O'Shea and Dunne to resume their centre half partnership, Bruce on the bench to come on. Kilbane or Nolan at left full, Kelly at right full


Kelly should not be in the squad. Trapp knows he is a complete shambles. No way!!

[carloz]

Kelly should not be in the squad. Trapp knows he is a complete shambles. No way!!

He is far from a shambles. A lot of people here seem to base him totally on that mistake he made in the first minute at home to Georgia. He played every single minute of the 2006/07 premiership campaign, and is no back in the premiership with a team in the Europa league. Id rather have him in the team than Darren O'Dea, a player who couldn't hold down a position in one of the worst ever Celtic defences

[Stuttgart88]

I think the truth is somerwhere in the middle.

Kelly can be a decent enough player but he totally lost his nerve in the first half against Georgia. It was correctly pointed out here that Dunne & O'Shea were culpable for that goal too but Kelly was partly to blame and was a bag of nerves afterwards. You could tell he just didn't want to be anywhere near the ball.

He actually played well against the Czechs a few years ago, on the left I think.

I think your dismissal of O'Dea is harsh. I think regular game time will do him the world of good. I think he'll be a good player for us in future.

How many of the goals we have conceded this campaign been due to blatant errors?

Georgia away was a last minute goal. Can't remember the source - any blame?
Georgia at home - shambolic defence
Bulgaria at home - o.g.
Italy away - Keogh loses possession cheaply / Keogh (or McShane) loses runner
Bulgaria away - KK ballwatching

Very frustrating. If we cut out the errors we might actually be quite good at catenaccio!

[DeLorean]

To be fair to Kelly he was just after a long time out and it's really not the type of ball you want to be dealing with in more or less the first minute of your return. I felt sorry for him to be honest and have no problem with him being in the side if necessary, let alone the squad.

[elroy]

More good news:

Their first choice goalkeeper Antonis Giorgallidi is out injured and to be replaced by Aris Limassol Goalkeeper Sofronis Avgoustis.

Cypriot daily Politis states that Anorthosis Famagusta defender Andreas Constantinou is likely to miss the game against Ireland after failing to overcome a knock he sustained in a recent league game against Ermis

[Duggie]

from eleven-a-side

"However, during Tuesday’s squad training session at Malahide’s Gannon Park, Celtic winger Aiden McGeady and Fulham’s Damien Duff lined up in a “probables” side.

Giovanni Trapattoni rarely keeps his cards close to his chest regarding team selection, so at this stage it looks as though Hunt will have to content himself with a place on the bench in Nicosia"

i really hope this is the case. shows that trap is going for the win and i love seeing mcgeady in the team. can cause them big problems and hopefully one of these days can hit the net for us. fingers crossed sat night.

[frog-gufc]

2-1 to ireland, thats if we play andrews instead of gibson

[Duggie]

2-1 to ireland, thats if we play andrews instead of gibson

jeez surely gibson wont start this game. andrews and whelan has to be.

[DeLorean]

i love seeing mcgeady in the team. can cause them big problems and hopefully one of these days can hit the net for us. fingers crossed sat night.

Yeah I think it's a perfect match for McGeady. He'll tear them apart!! Hunt is a useful option if all else fails too.

[Duggie]

Yeah I think it's a perfect match for McGeady. He'll tear them apart!! Hunt is a useful option if all else fails too.

ya totally agree, expecting a big game from aiden. possibly bring on hunt for the last 20 mins. hopefully we will be 2-0 up at that stage !!

[Crosby87]

More good news:

Their first choice goalkeeper Antonis Giorgallidi is out injured and to be replaced by Aris Limassol Goalkeeper Sofronis Avgoustis.

Cypriot daily Politis states that Anorthosis Famagusta defender Andreas Constantinou is likely to miss the game against Ireland after failing to overcome a knock he sustained in a recent league game against Ermis

Thats good reporting!
Of course I used to get the Politis delivered to my door every morning but the paper business is not doing well here any more.
Hopefully Sofronis Avgoustis gets a bit of the yips and looks more like Timis Howardis.

[tetsujin1979]

from eleven-a-side

"However, during Tuesday’s squad training session at Malahide’s Gannon Park, Celtic winger Aiden McGeady and Fulham’s Damien Duff lined up in a “probables” side.

Giovanni Trapattoni rarely keeps his cards close to his chest regarding team selection, so at this stage it looks as though Hunt will have to content himself with a place on the bench in Nicosia"

i really hope this is the case. shows that trap is going for the win and i love seeing mcgeady in the team. can cause them big problems and hopefully one of these days can hit the net for us. fingers crossed sat night.
since Kilbane has been identified as the weak link, I'd prefer duff to start in front of him, he's more defensively sound than McGeady. Bring Hunt on for whomever is playing worse with about 20 minutes ago to tear into the Cypriot full back

[elroy]

Thats good reporting!
Of course I used to get the Politis delivered to my door every morning but the paper business is not doing well here any more.
Hopefully Sofronis Avgoustis gets a bit of the yips and looks more like Timis Howardis.

I have to admit that soccerrepublic.ie rather than me reading a copy of Politis was my source :D

SR is a good site for providing the opinions of the other side, no harm to know about the other team in advance. Other quotes included Okkas going on about how they are going for a win against Ireland and how playing for Cyprus means alot to them.....in response to the backlash after the albania hammering.

[Scram]

I’m going to go out on a bit of a limb here and predict this as Wee Aiden’s best performance for Ireland to include a goal and will back Aiden to score and Ireland win 2-1…if we do score 2, I hope the second is in the 90th minute instead of two after 10 minutes.

Suffering is acceptable but only when there is reward!

[tetsujin1979]

Dunne is 13/1 to score at any time with Paddy Power, he's already scored twice in the qualifiers, so it's damn tempting

[bholg]

Twice in the last 2 games I had unplaced 'dunne for 1st goal' (E.w) betslips in my pocket at 40/1.

Raging... dont know why I didnt back him at the last minute.
Can Lighting strike 3 times...? Possibly I should write the slip and not put it on....

a positive kind of a jinx

[Stuttgart88]

More good news:

Their first choice goalkeeper Antonis Giorgallidi is out injured and to be replaced by Aris Limassol Goalkeeper Sofronis Avgoustis.

Cypriot daily Politis states that Anorthosis Famagusta defender Andreas Constantinou is likely to miss the game against Ireland after failing to overcome a knock he sustained in a recent league game against ErmisYes, but wasn't our good friend Dudi Awat deputising for the number 1 goalie for Israel?!

[paul_oshea]

Whose a tw@t?!

[IsMiseSean]

Does anyone think trap might play with just one up front??
A defeat will be a disaster... A draw not so bad!!

I've got a feeling we might see Robbie up front on his own on saturday and also witness a 0-0.
Hopefully I'm wrong and we win, any score will do!!!

[DeLorean]

Think he'll stick with two up front. Very doubtful he'd change the system with so few matches left. Don't like the way he's talking about not losing himself, there are 3 handy pts for the taking if you ask me.

[paul_oshea]

if we dont take those 3 points we are as good as out. whatever anyone else says.

[tetsujin1979]

Does anyone think trap might play with just one up front??
A defeat will be a disaster... A draw not so bad!!

I've got a feeling we might see Robbie up front on his own on saturday and also witness a 0-0.
Hopefully I'm wrong and we win, any score will do!!!
can't see it happening, in every game under Trapattoni, even the B games, we've only played 4-4-2. No way he's going to change the formation and tactics with 3 qualifiers to go.

[geysir]

if we dont take those 3 points we are as good as out. whatever anyone else says.
They might say you tend to over-dwell on the dark side .

[elroy]

Does anyone think trap might play with just one up front??
A defeat will be a disaster... A draw not so bad!!

I've got a feeling we might see Robbie up front on his own on saturday and also witness a 0-0.
Hopefully I'm wrong and we win, any score will do!!!

Realistically we're only two points ahead of Bulgaria so dont think we can afford a slip up in Cyprus and certainly shouldnt be going there with that attitude.
A draw and we kiss topping the group goodbye and means we'll have an extra nervous final two games. Whereas a win puts us in a good position to go for it against Italy in croker.

Cyprus 0 -1 Ireland
Bulgaria 2 - 1 Montenegro
Georgia 0 - 2 Italy
Italy 1 - 0 Bulgaria

Would leave group as follows this time next week:
Italy 20pts
Ireland 16pts
Bulgaria 11pts

[paul_oshea]

if we win and italy win how would htey be 2 points ahead of us?

[Duggie]

heard a horrible stat last night on off the ball that cyprus lost 6-1 the game befoe they beat us 5-2 last time over there. hope its not a sign....:(

[ifk101]

heard a horrible stat last night on off the ball that cyprus lost 6-1 the game befoe they beat us 5-2 last time over there. hope its not a sign....:(

Don't worry, be happy ....

No point in looking back when we should be looking forward and keeping the focus on our goal - qualification for South Africa. This paper talk about revenging that result annoys me because it's side-tracking focus away from our qualification goal.

[tetsujin1979]

Don't worry, be happy ....

No point in looking back when we should be looking forward and keeping the focus on our goal - qualification for South Africa. This paper talk about revenging that result annoys me because it's side-tracking focus away from our qualification goal.
I never really like talk of revenge in the build up to any game. If the players are good enough, then there's no need for any kind of motivation except qualification.

[ifk101]

I never really like talk of revenge in the build up to any game. If the players are good enough, then there's no need for any kind of motivation except qualification.

Exactly. The players should be fired up for this game regardless. Bringing revenge into the equation can result in individuals losing concentration and making rash decisions on the field of play.

[irishfan86]

Delete

[Duggie]

heard put em under pressure on dempsey this morning on way to work. such a song to bring back the good old memories of the 90's. what a song to get you going.

[paul_oshea]

Duggie legend song. brilliant, love it. Fair play to dempsey playing it, was it followed up by something soccer related or what. The intro is deadly as well.

[Wolfie]

heard put em under pressure on dempsey this morning on way to work. such a song to bring back the good old memories of the 90's. what a song to get you going.

That song is good crack and a reminder of great times in 1990.

That said - it heralded the terrible dawn of "Ole Ole Ole" reaching the wider public.

It has become the anthem to every arbitrarily designated "Great Day for Ireland".

[shakermaker1982]

My main concern as we edge closer to kick off is our ability to convert chances if Keane has a quiet game. Doyle, McGeady, Andrews, Whelan and Duff need to start chipping in.

[Duggie]

Duggie legend song. brilliant, love it. Fair play to dempsey playing it, was it followed up by something soccer related or what. The intro is deadly as well.

oh the intro is class, gives me goosebumps every time. he played it after giftgrub(radio roy) so suppose with the game on sat they just decided to play it. i had it blaring in the car !! :ball:

[Scram]

Think he'll stick with two up front. Very doubtful he'd change the system with so few matches left. Don't like the way he's talking about not losing himself, there are 3 handy pts for the taking if you ask me.

He will play 4-4-2. If there was a bet available on this, I would put the house on it. As predicatble as Kerr.

[DeLorean]

He will play 4-4-2. If there was a bet available on this, I would put the house on it. As predicatble as Kerr.

Yeah you don't come away from Italy and Bulgaria with 2 draws playing 4-4-2 and then decide to go more defensive against Cyprus. I've rarely been as confident before an Ireland match. I can't see us not scoring a couple and once we keep it tight I can't see them being too inventive. I'd actually be more concerned if it was at Croke Park.

[Wangball]

Yeah you don't come away from Italy and Bulgaria with 2 draws playing 4-4-2 and then decide to go more defensive against Cyprus. I've rarely been as confident before an Ireland match. I can't see us not scoring a couple and once we keep it tight I can't see them being too inventive. I'd actually be more concerned if it was at Croke Park.

I agree 100%....a lot of my mates are being quite sceptical about this game but we've arguably been better looking away rather than at home...I reckon 2 or 3 nil to us

[paul_oshea]

No way wankball, get a grip!! 2 goal win would be very good, for us obviouslly.

[Wangball]

No way wankball, get a grip!! 2 goal win would be very good, for us obviouslly.

Are you on glue?

[paul_oshea]

My point is if we got a 2 goal win it would be a great result. This game is going to be tight, we have not had a 3 goal competitive win in a long time.

[Duggie]

endless amount of prittstick :D

[SuperDave]

i had a nightmare, but not a really bad one

we lost 2-0, but montenegro won 2-1 in bulgaria

[DeLorean]

montenegro won 2-1 in bulgaria

Took a goal 2mins into injury time to prevent this in Podgorica, so who knows!

[elroy]

i had a nightmare, but not a really bad one

we lost 2-0, but montenegro won 2-1 in bulgaria

This still would be bad, in the sense that we still need a decent no of points to be safe of getting a playoff spot.

[tetsujin1979]

My point is if we got a 2 goal win it would be a great result. This game is going to be tight, we have not had a 3 goal competitive win in a long time.
think it was the 5-0 home win VS San Marino?

[Fergie's Son]

2-1 win. No chance of us not conceding a goal against this crowd. We need to go out for the win though and by playing McGeady and Duff Trapp is signaling his intent. I'd love to see Aiden really step it up and score a few and dominate the game.

[Razors left peg]

This is the most nervous Ive been in week building up to a game for years.Probably France in Lansdowne was the last time Ive been like this. Would settle for a crap performance and a poxy 1 nil win right now.... but having said that we could do with a good performance and a comfortable win to get the confidence up for the games against Italy and Montenegro(I almost typed Macedonia there, hope thats not an omen :))

[Hibernian]

[QUOTE=Razors left peg;1224863]This is the most nervous Ive been in week building up to a game for years.Probably France in Lansdowne was the last time Ive been like this. Would settle for a crap performance and a poxy 1 nil win right now.... but having said that we could do with a good performance and a comfortable win to get the confidence up for the games against Italy and Montenegro(I almost typed Macedonia there, hope thats not an omen :))[/QUOTE

Ya im the same having panic attacks is what ill have watching it at mates place. im very nervous about it but think we just scrape home by one goal win.

I for surprise 4-0 win but think that aint going happen

[centre mid]

1-0 game over. R Dunne 28mins.