The team for AFTER the WC2006!

[eirebhoy]

What do you think/hope the team will be going into the European championship qualifiers at the end of 2006 (2 full seasons away)?

Cunningham will be 35 and probably retire from the international stage after the world cup like most people that age. Roy Keane will certainly be retired from international football too. Kinsella (34) and McAteer (35) will most likely be retired, they certainly won't make the team anyway.

GK:
Given - 30
Colgan - 33
Kenny - 28
Murphy - 25
Stack - 25
Henderson - 23

DL:
Harte - 29
O'Shea - 25*
Maybury - 28
Clarke - 26
Capper - 23
Kohlmann - 23 (does he player at LB?)

DR:
Carr - 30
Finnan - 30
Kelly - 23
O'Shea - 25*
Maybury - 28*
Thompson - 25*

DC:
Breen - 33
Dunne - 27
O'Brien - 27
Doherty - 26
O'Shea - 25*
Thompson - 25*
McCarthy - 23*
Fitzgerald - 22*

midfielders:
Duff - 27
A Reid - 24
Kilbane - 29
A Quinn - 25
Holland - 32
S Reid - 25
Healy - 26
Delap - 30
McPhail - 27
Kavanagh - 33
Miller - 25
Barrett - 25
Rowlands - 27
Douglas - 25
Doyle - 25
Keegan - 22
Bradley - 22
Potter - 22
Flood - 21
Thornton - 23

Attackers:
Connolly - 29
Keane - 26
Morrison - 27
Lee - 28
McGeady - 20
Yeates - 21
Elliot - 22

whooh, thats a long list. Anyway here's mine (we're really short for decent LB's):

__________________Given____________________

Carr________O'Brien_______O'Shea_______Finnan

_______A.Reid______Miller______Duff___________

_________________McGeady__________________

___________Keane_________Elliot______________

Subs: Stack, Kelly, Dunne, McCarthy, Flood, Kilbane, Yeates.

Given will only get better with age. Carr should be at another club and will be back to the player he once was. Finnan should be able to play at LB. O'Shea would be a very good CB if he got his chance at ManU. O'Brien should be an excellent centre half in two years time.

Miller could play the Roy Keane role in the centre of midfield. Reid and Duff will do what they do best. McGeady's best position will be in the Ronaldinho position behind the front two. Keane and Elliot would be a deadly partnership.

The subs, if Stack gets first team football he'll be great backup for Shay. Kelly, mcCarthy, Flood and Yeates are fantastic prospects. I can see Dunne being an excellent centre half in two years. Kilbane can play in a few positions and has great experience.

[1MickCollins]

What about after the 2010 WC? :D :D

[tricky_colour]

"Milller could play the Roy Keane role".

I wish, I fancy it will be a long long time before we see another
player like him - but you never know ;)


He was the only Irish player named in Europes top 40 player of
all time.

You may never see a player as good as him again in your life-time.

That was the real tragedity of Saipan.

The people who come on here and knock him are ..... well I can't
really find the words.

[eirebhoy]

What about after the 2010 WC? :D :D
The reason I posted this was because there is one for the 2006 world cup but that would just contain most of the players from the current squad as none of them would have retired by then. After the WC there is always a big shake up with the squad and other players are given a try. I also think that we'll be at our peak for the 2006-2008 European Champs campaign.

Anyway, who would everyone else like to see in the team? I hope I didn't waist my time posting all those players up. :( ;)

[Bowsy]

If all players develop to their potential that would be a great team. Lot of ifs though involved in that. McShane at United and Whelan at Wednesday as well as many other underage players might come through as real options in the next few years. How many people would have been quoting Andy Reid, Liam Miller, Aiden McGeady and Stephen Elliott in Ireland teams 2 years ago.

[carnstien]

Thats all well and good but in fairness new players are emerging all the time. 2 years ago nobody had heard of Miller, O'Shea, Andy Ried, McGeady and a few others. In 2 years time who knows who might have emerged?

To partly answer my own question, I think that in Paddy McCarthy and Paul McShane we have two potentialy top class centre backs.

[carnstien]

I can see Dunne being an excellent centre half in two years.
I can see Dunne being housebound because he has become so fat in two years time.

[dynamo kerry]

most of the list contained players who had excelled and won domestic championships, european trophies and appeared and/or won major championships

giles and brady are definite mysteries
mcgrath however is not

not playing european football robbed him of the chance of european fame which he definitely did not have to the same extent as keane, brady or best

When he left united it was not seen as a big loss

[1MickCollins]

The reason I posted this was because there is one for the 2006 world cup but that would just contain most of the players from the current squad as none of them would have retired by then. After the WC there is always a big shake up with the squad and other players are given a try. I also think that we'll be at our peak for the 2006-2008 European Champs campaign.

Anyway, who would everyone else like to see in the team? I hope I didn't waist my time posting all those players up. :( ;)

Only messin. You never know the way players are going to develop or if they just disappear without a trace and then other players come from nowhere.

I won't go out on a limb and predict who will make it after 2006. 12 months ago had anyone heard of McGeady who is now always described as a "prodigy"?

If you look at Whelan, Burgess, Walters, Paisley, Capper and the list goes on and on, you can suddenly go from "highly rated" to Div3, Conference or EL and its always a hard road back to the top.

[NeilMcD]

As far as I know keane does have a medal from 1999 but i would be wrong there

[Plastic Paddy]

He was suspended for the final, Neil, so didn't qualify for a medal IIRC.

:) PP

[NeilMcD]

I read an interview with him and he said he was given a medal but he does not regard it as his as he did not play in the final. Dont think it was given to them on the night but at a later date.

[tiktok]

He was suspended for the final, Neil, so didn't qualify for a medal IIRC.

:) PP

No PP, he and scholes were both suspended for the final but both received winners medals

[eirebhoy]

I read an interview with him and he said he was given a medal but he does not regard it as his as he did not play in the final.
He should have, he pretty much single handedly got them to the final even though he knew he would miss it.

[Macy]

On a European club level, they have the same number of medals...nil.
Did Giles not get one in 74... :p

[Greenbod]

Did Giles not get one in 74... :p

Giles won Fairs cup (former name for Uefa Cup) medals in 1968 and 1971. I believe he also got a European Cup runners-up medal in '75.

Anyone who has watched football from the '60s to the present day will tell you Giles was our greatest. Don't know about pre 1960.

[Greenbod]

And a Cup Winners Cup runner up medal in 1973.

On the flip side, never made the finals of a World Cup or European Championships for his country.

Ah, but had he done so, he would have played ;)

Giles had everything Keane had plus beautiful long range passing and a brain.

[dynamo kerry]

ok I didnt mention giles as I dont know enough about him

AFAIK however from chatting to europeans - very few soccer fans know much about mcgrath

he played in one of the worst united teams of all time

all I'm suggesting is that there are surely other great players out there we havent heard much of.

Also you cant compare mcgrath with keane in terms of participation (Which should have been my original point) in european competition

keane's leadership of united over the last 7-8 yrs has been a huge boost to his fame

mcgrat never had the oppotunity which is sad but in no way means the bbc list is invalid for his absence- which was conor74's point