Republic of Ireland V Latvia - Friday, November 15th 2013 - Friendly

[Stuttgart88]

I though Dahlin and Kennet Andersson were the other standouts, Larsson a filler-in. I was amazed at how good he went on to become.

[Stuttgart88]

Anyway, Latvia game is on SS4 on Friday. Ive set the telly to record that and also the Sweden v Portugal game.

[geysir]

I'll be able to record some of it if there's a rte highlights version, if not i'll catch the You Tube version.

I trust that Ireland will at least match the stats from our last game with putting together at least 600 passes and 63% possession that King's team managed against Kazakhstan :)
It will be interesting to compare the attitude of the panel, with the pre and post game analysis of the game against Kaz to the game against Latvia.
We just might be able to discern the difference that being called a 'comedy show' makes to Giles' supposedly "objective analysis".

[Paddy Garcia]

Pilkington a doubt for the game,

[bennocelt]

Thats desperate Stutts, Larsson was a standout at WC94 but so too was Brolin ;)

Tut tut Stutts, Larsson was brilliant in that tournament, in total it was a brilliant Swedish team from def to attack

[back of the net]

oh god - its looking like a long term thing

http://www.independent.ie/woman/celeb-news/nadia-vows-to-fly-back-from-states-to-sing-at-home-games-29747181.html

[EAFC_rdfl]

Yes, I think it is. The man who took Henrik Larsson to Celtic. Larsson didn't impress me in the 1994 World Cup even though they did really well. I thought that to carry off such a silly haircut you'd need to be seriously good and I thought he was ordinary at best . When he gave the ball away costing Celtic a goal on his debut away to Hibs (I think) I emailed my mate and said "I told you Larsson is rubbish". That's why I'm not a scout and Wim is.

Also the man who put a halt to the other mob getting 10 in a row, forever grateful :D
Aye Larsson did take time to flourish, in fact I think it took til after the horror leg break before he really took off.


I though Dahlin and Kennet Andersson were the other standouts, Larsson a filler-in. I was amazed at how good he went on to become.
Dahlin is the one that stands out for me too, had a great tournament.

[Razors left peg]

oh god - its looking like a long term thing

http://www.independent.ie/woman/celeb-news/nadia-vows-to-fly-back-from-states-to-sing-at-home-games-29747181.html

I hate having any singer for anthems in any sport. Its a million times better to just have the music and let the crowd sing

[back of the net]

I hate having any singer for anthems in any sport. Its a million times better to just have the music and let the crowd sing

Agree 100% - the anthem is the supporters and the teams moment.

Having a singer do it just takes away the passion and atmosphere. For me , Ive always viewed the anthem as sort of connection btwn the team and the fans.


Nadia absolutely murdered the anthem against sweden - i got lost trying to keep with her while singing it as did most of the fans ...i think.

What made it worse , it was such a huge game - its games like the sweden game when a passionate anthem is most needed.

Her version got panned on the internet - which leaves me all the more confused as to why john Delaney asked her back for more as surely the FAI were aware of that.

[tetsujin1979]

I know this is really out there, even as conspiracy theories go, but bear with me.

My parents still buy the Sunday Independent, so I flick through it when I'm at home. There's a disproportionally large amount of coverage across the various supplements (business/people/sport/whatever) that make up the paper itself dedicated to minor celebrities in Ireland, mostly including Irish models - Rosanna Davison, Georgia Salpa, Nadia Forde, etc - and it's all fairly positive. I'd struggle to recall a negative piece on any one of them, even interviews with people associated with them rarely (if ever) will have a negative mention of them. Obviously this is because, eventually, they will need to interview one of the models, or use them in a photoshoot, and they, or the agency that represents them, would refuse if the paper had ever published a disparaging story on them. Bearing that in mind, could Delaney (or whoever is responsible) asking her to sing again, even after the negative public reaction to her first rendition of the anthem, be a way to curry favour with the paper, or at the very least keep the negative stories to a minimum?

[BonnieShels]

But he's so linked with Denis O'Brien now that surely they no longer need to curry favour with two-bit celebs.

I hate singers of the anthem.

Imagine what Poznan v Croatia would have been like. I was nearly brought to tears that night.

[geysir]

It could be a favour of sorts to somebody and Delaney reaps the reward. It could also be just another instalment of the inane planning of the stadium atmosphere experience for fans by idiots, music after the goal type schmaltz, as if a fan's goal celebration need to be enhanced. The singing of the anthem at Ireland games didn't need any interference.
Anyway, the Garda Band alone provided as much sex appeal enhancement as was needed for such an occasion.

[Fixer82]

I've no problem with local Irish singers singing the anthem. In fact, I'd support it.
But Nadia Forde's version goes on forever. It's depressing.

Agree with above post about playing songs after celebrations. Irish Rover and all that ****e. Embarrassing and cringeworthy.
Imagine they'd done that after Jason McAteer scored against Holland? Would've taken away from the enormity of that goal.

I hear them blasting out Fields of Athenry during Ireland samoa rugby match last weekend just during the game. Not after a try or anything...brutal!

[back of the net]

I've no problem with local Irish singers singing the anthem. In fact, I'd support it.
But Nadia Forde's version goes on forever. It's depressing.

Agree with above post about playing songs after celebrations. Irish Rover and all that ****e. Embarrassing and cringeworthy.
Imagine they'd done that after Jason McAteer scored against Holland? Would've taken away from the enormity of that goal.

!


Agree with you on the songs after celebrations /goals and affecting the enormity of them.

But equally i would apply that logic to a hired singer who is on the pitch for the anthem....it takes away from the enormity of the anthem

Nothing better than the feeling on big match nite , walking up lansdowne Rd , the nerves flowing through you, the excitment, seeing the stadium and getting ready to unleash everything you got to support the lads..... and bursting your lungs belting out the anthem in unison with your fellow supporters.........thats if Nadia and her like havent come along and squeezed the life out of it

[jbyrne]

surely the players want to hear the fans reaction and support rather that manufactured anthem singing and atmosphere?

manufactured atmosphere is all about the supporters rather than players which rather defeats the purpose of supporters in a stadium. it begars belief that stadiums still insist on false atmosphere gimmicks. both the football and rugby atmospheres have been destroyed in recent years. have the authorities not noticed this???

[Lionel Ritchie]

I know this is really out there, even as conspiracy theories go, but bear with me.

My parents still buy the Sunday Independent, so I flick through it when I'm at home. There's a disproportionally large amount of coverage across the various supplements (business/people/sport/whatever) that make up the paper itself dedicated to minor celebrities in Ireland, mostly including Irish models - Rosanna Davison, Georgia Salpa, Nadia Forde, etc - and it's all fairly positive. I'd struggle to recall a negative piece on any one of them, even interviews with people associated with them rarely (if ever) will have a negative mention of them. Obviously this is because, eventually, they will need to interview one of the models, or use them in a photoshoot, and they, or the agency that represents them, would refuse if the paper had ever published a disparaging story on them. Bearing that in mind, could Delaney (or whoever is responsible) asking her to sing again, even after the negative public reaction to her first rendition of the anthem, be a way to curry favour with the paper, or at the very least keep the negative stories to a minimum?

That's not at all as out there as it should be Tets. The one and only place I saw a positive appraisal of her ruinous involvement before the Sweden match, allowing for the fact I don't read the Irish Mail or any publication that uses words like 'phwoar' or 'stunner', was in the Independent Woman section -and frankly that read like a press release not a press report.

It occurred to me that if an episode of The Simpsons featured a sketch with a pretty girl with little obvious singing ability yet who gets to sing the national anthem before Springfield Isoptopes games it'd be sniggeringly implied she was blowing Mayor Quimby.



I've no problem with local Irish singers singing the anthem. In fact, I'd support it.
But Nadia Forde's version goes on forever. It's depressing.

Agree with above post about playing songs after celebrations. Irish Rover and all that ****e. Embarrassing and cringeworthy.
Imagine they'd done that after Jason McAteer scored against Holland? Would've taken away from the enormity of that goal.

I hear them blasting out Fields of Athenry during Ireland samoa rugby match last weekend just during the game. Not after a try or anything...brutal!

I guess I DO have a problem with singers being brought in to do the anthem -but she's not even a singer. There is simply no comparison between her singing before our games and a professional singer like Katherine Jenkins -who takes an amount of snobbish 'pop tart' stick from within the operatic community, singing before Welsh rugby games. Maybe Cymru'll know if her involvement is popular over there or not.
But as has been said better by others its the supporters and players moment - Not a 'platform' for a fashion model (and as she's normally based in Ireland -that means part-time fashion model) to launch a 'singing career' that she'll mercifully abandon anyway after the Christmas Karaoke album bombs and she scores her real dream job presenting 'Take Me Out' or Date my mate or whatever the feck it's called while doing a turn in Gaeity panto with that gowl from TV3.

[IsMiseSean]

Agree with above post about playing songs after celebrations. Irish Rover and all that ****e. Embarrassing and cringeworthy.
Imagine they'd done that after Jason McAteer scored against Holland? Would've taken away from the enormity of that goal.


It's one thing to play an Irish song after a goal but Aerosmith's 'Walk This Way' after a try at the weekend was terrible.

[tetsujin1979]

It's one thing to play an Irish song after a goal but Aerosmith's 'Walk This Way' after a try at the weekend was terrible.count your lucky stars you missed out on the rugby league world cup game against Australia in Thomond Park at the weekend. Every score was accompanied by a different 70's/80's pop "classic"
If you didn't hear the scoreline, Ireland lost 50-0. There was a lot of Aussie's singing.

[IsMiseSean]

Maybe they were saving 'Irish Rover' for when Ireland scored?? Guess we'll never know now....

[tricky_colour]

Maybe they were saving 'Irish Rover' for when Ireland scored?? Guess we'll never know now....

Think they are lining this one up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YewVugPHon4

[shakermaker1982]

What is she anyway? A model? Socialite? Don't hear anything about her over in the UK.

[Charlie Darwin]

I take issue with the repeated references to the 'enormity' of McAteer's goal against the Netherlands. It was actually a very tidy finish.

[Fixer82]

Agree with you on the songs after celebrations /goals and affecting the enormity of them.

But equally i would apply that logic to a hired singer who is on the pitch for the anthem....it takes away from the enormity of the anthem


yeah you're probably right actually

[Stuttgart88]

Imagine what Poznan v Croatia would have been like. I was nearly brought to tears that night.

Me too. And nothing to do with music.

[DannyInvincible]

Delaney shows off his street skillz with a few Latvian players:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PedgT0TqiX0

[DeLorean]

How can anybody not like that guy?

[DannyInvincible]

I'm in work 'til 9 tonight, dagnabbit, and see that Sky won't be showing a repeat of their coverage of the game at any point through the night or on Saturday. I don't suppose someone will be recording the game on RTÉ and putting it online in some form or another, or doing whatever it is you whizzes do?

[BonnieShels]

Me too. And nothing to do with music.

Good thing you left me and the other lad early so that night. Further tears were nearly brought to our eyes. :)

[tricky_colour]

Delaney shows off his street skillz with a few Latvian players:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PedgT0TqiX0

Sign him up Trap err... I mean Martin and Roy!!

[Junior]

Only highlights being shown on RTE around 11pm I believe.

[Dunners]

Anyone know if it can be watched on line ?

[DannyInvincible]

Only highlights being shown on RTE around 11pm I believe.

Just seeing that. Had assumed they'd be showing it. The highlights will be Ireland-only, according to the website.


Anyone know if it can be watched on line ?

You should be able to find a stream on one of these sites closer to kick-off:

- http://www.footballstreaming.info/streams/todays-links/index.html
- http://www.wiziwig.tv/broadcast.php?matchid=230306&part=sports
- http://www.lshunter.net/

[McGinty]

Any idea on how many tickets have been sold for tonight? Curious to see how many will show up tonight. Tony O'D reckons 40K+

[jbyrne]

various reports ranging from 35 - 40,000. the ticketmaster interactive map would suggest something along those lines ok

[rebelmusic]

This stream is already planned for the match, usually very good quality
http://www.coolsport.tv/skysports4.html

[DeLorean]

Preview: New era for Ireland starts with Latvia


By Rob Wright

It’s been a long time coming but there is a finally a real sense of optimism surrounding the Ireland national team.

The grey and dreary Trapattoni era shuddered to an inevitable halt with a defeat to Austria on a September evening and with it, morale in Irish football reached one of its lowest points in decades.

In truth, it should never have been allowed to go on that long and the FAI made a major mistake in not removing Trapattoni after a dreadful Euro 2012 campaign.

When the veteran Italian manager eventually parted company with the Irish team, he was replaced on an interim basis by Noel King, a manager who has never been able to achieve anything above mediocrity with the Republic of Ireland Under-21s in his three years in charge.

Hopes weren’t high. Indeed, there were suspicions that, despite John Delaney's denials, had King been able to get a result against Germany, he could have been offered the job on a permanent basis.

The FAI has appointed a man who they believe will be able to put together an Ireland team that’s more than the sum of its parts.

The immediate relief felt among Irish supporters with the exit of Trapattoni slowly turned to concern as the weeks dragged on without a permanent replacement being named.

Names were linked and discounted, and when John Delaney and the FAI farmed out the process of replacing Trapattoni to Ray Houghton and Ruud Dokter, there was a real worry that we’d see a repeat of Steve Staunton’s appointment.

However, Houghton and Dokter stuck to their task, identified Martin O’Neill as their main target, and aided by the deep pockets of Denis O’Brien they were able to convince the man who was the first choice of the majority of Ireland supporters to take the reins.

He did it at Leicester City, he did it at Celtic and he did it at Aston Villa – a team he took to three top-six Premier League finishes.

That ability to get players performing above themselves and to motivate them will be crucial, given the inherent limitations in international football.

O'Neill's first role will be to install a new mental strength in a group of players who have seen the crowds and support slowly ebb away since the highs of qualifying for Euro 2012.

Against Latvia the manager will have the perfect opportunity to help the team reconnect with an Irish sporting public who became jaded with disappointing performances, negative tactics and the former manager telling them just how poor a pool of players we have.

Since the appointment of O'Neill and Roy Keane, this fixture has taken on an importance that few would have expected when it was originally announced.

It's hardly a glamour tie against a team of household names, but given the optimism and positivity surrounding the team this week, it's important that the new boss starts with a win and a decent performance.

The players have responded in the right way so far, saying all the right things and the sideshow surrounding the appointment of Keane as assistant manager has taken much of the spotlight and pressure off them.


Nevertheless, against Latvia they need to perform and help win back what can be a fickle Irish fanbase.


O'Neill is aware of all this of course and is expecting a big performance from his squad in the game with Latvia and the follow-up trip to Poland.


"I don't want the players to treat these like friendly games. I told them that last night.


"They became big games because I have to make judgements on players. That's exactly how I see these games coming up. They may not be competitive in terms of picking up points, but they are very important."


As well as using this two games to decide on his players O'Neill is canny enough to be aware that he can send a big signal of intent and go some way to winning fans back at the Aviva by putting out the right team - a team set up to take the game to Latvia and dictate things.


To that end, expect to see James McCarthy anchor the midfield. Keane in particular, has been full of praise of McCarthy, admitting that he sees something of himself in the Everton player, saying: "He probably plays a little like me. Maybe not as aggressive and possibly looking to mature in terms of his personality on the team over the next few years, but that will all come."


With Robbie Brady injured and Anthony Pilkington doubtful with a dead leg, Andy Reid could be given the chance to impress in midfield. Having already been given the thumbs-up by his new international boss to bring his infamous guitar out of retirement, Reid looks to be in line to start against the Latvians.

Robbie Keane has been maintained as captain for these two games at least and therefore is expected to start against Latvia, but elsewhere it becomes more difficult to predict what team O'Neill will opt for in Dublin.

Unlike Trapattoni, who tended to announce his starting line-ups well in advance of a game, the new Ireland manager is playing his cards closer to his chest and has already signalled his intention to give everyone a chance to prove themselves. Don't be surprised if the likes of Anthony Stokes, Alex Pearce of even the uncapped Rob Elliott get the nod.

Whatever team O'Neill does go for tonight, they should have enough about them to beat Latvia.

The visitors had a Euro 2012 qualifying campaign that they'll be keen to forget in a hurry, finishing second from bottom, winning just two games and failing to beat perennial whipping boys Liechtenstein away from home.

Now managed by former Southampton striker Marian Pahars, Latvia have won just one of their last ten matches, and have struggled to make an impact on the international scene in recent years. With few youngsters coming through and a squad comprised mostly of domestic players, there are not many familiar faces in the squad.

Veteran Kaspars Gorkss plays alongside Alex Pearce and Stephen Kelly at Reading and is his country's most experienced and reliable defender, while up front former Dynamo Kiev striker Maris Verpakovskis is Latvia's top all-time goalscorer with 29 goals. However, at the age of 34, his best days are firmly behind him.

The trip to Poznan on Tuesday to take on Poland will be in O'Neill's mind when he selects his team to take on Latvia and while he may well give more fringe players a chance to impress at the Aviva, it's crucial that whoever he picks, he sets them up to attack and take the game to visitors.

There's little that Ireland have to fear from Latvia, so the manager can afford to take risks and maybe even offer “a little style and a little panache” as he promised at his first press conference. A win, and a win playing the right kind of football, will go a long way to help bring back the feel-good factor to the Ireland team.


RTÉ Sport: Republic of Ireland v Latvia Preview (http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/international/2013/1115/486849-republic-of-ireland-v-latvia-preview/)

[geysir]

Preview: New era for Ireland starts with Latvia


By Rob Wright


When the veteran Italian manager eventually parted company with the Irish team, he was replaced on an interim basis by Noel King, a manager who has never been able to achieve anything above mediocrity with the Republic of Ireland Under-21s in his three years in charge.

Hopes weren’t high. Indeed, there were suspicions that, despite John Delaney's denials, had King been able to get a result against Germany, he could have been offered the job on a permanent basis.

I would have thought beating Italy away was a clear and obvious achievement and done with 10 players for most of the game, finishing with 9.
Also rumours that King would have the job if he did well were kicked to touch right from the beginning.

Why does this dimwit of a journalist feel the need to disparage King with disinformation?
Btw, that's a rhetorical Q

[DeLorean]

Plus that was most likely unfounded speculation as opposed to any kind of legitimate rumour. Saying we were at our lowest ebb in decades is clearly nonsense too given the Staunton era.

[Charlie Darwin]

Why does this dimwit of a journalist feel the need to disparage King with disinformation?
He'd be breaking with tradition if he didn't.

[colonelwest]

Well lads, have the ST but have to pick up tickets for tonight for others. It's been years since I've had to do it, is the pick up still in the Berkeley these days?

[Serb]

When is the team announced? I remember the good old days when Trap released the team a day before. :'(

[as_i_say]

Saying we were at our lowest ebb in decades is clearly nonsense too given the Staunton era.

I don't see much wrong with that statement. The campaign just gone under Trap was worse than Staunton's campaign, despite the 2-5 v Cyprus and we have hit our lowest ranking since rankings began.

[Charlie Darwin]

How was this campaign worse than Stan's? We only won 4 of 12 games in that campaign, 2 of them against San Marino, and were never remotely within contention. This campaign wasn't great but it was certainly better.

[tetsujin1979]

I don't see much wrong with that statement. The campaign just gone under Trap was worse than Staunton's campaign, despite the 2-5 v Cyprus and we have hit our lowest ranking since rankings began.
It's an over-reaction to the rankings, and the football. When Staunton was sacked, we had just come from behind to draw with Cyprus, and the whole setup was a shambles. In the current setup, there's some changes to be made to the style of play, and replacements to be made to squad players* but ratings apart, we're in a far better situation than six years ago.
At the time, some doubted if we would ever get to another finals, within four years we were at the European Championships.

* which happens naturally at the end of every qualification campaign anyway

[DeLorean]

I don't see much wrong with that statement. The campaign just gone under Trap was worse than Staunton's campaign, despite the 2-5 v Cyprus and we have hit our lowest ranking since rankings began.

I thought I might be hit with those stats as I was posting. Not in a millions years for me. Our campaign under Trap was a campaign too far, staleness, etc. A couple of breaks here and there and we would have been genuinely in contention for a playoff spot, not that we deserved any breaks as we were poor. The Staunton campaign was a shambles from start to finish really and, as CD say, we were never in contention at all. An injury time winner against the handful that is San Marino and the two Cyprus games were pretty much rock bottom. A matter of opinion obviously but barely comparable in mine.

[paul_oshea]

I think the last campaign was a whole shambles really, we just about kept in it the last time because when we played sweden and austria they had taken points off eachother as well. Germany and czech in that group had pulled well ahead by the same stage. There was slight reprieve with the draw against Sweden, but the draw 4 days later to Austria quashed that. IT really was a shambles, maybe not with the same shambolic results in Stans campaign granted.

[Lionel Ritchie]

I believe I'm correct in saying we accumulated more points in Stans group as well. That Sweden away game wasn't so much a reprieve as a blip in form for both teams concerned. I remember at the time thinking there's scarcely a huge gap in genuine quality between the two sides and yet the difference appeared to be that when we play out of our skins we draw with them and when they have an below par night they draw with us.

[Charlie Darwin]

Staunton had two extra games. We averaged 1.4 points a game in each campaign.

[DeLorean]

That Sweden away game wasn't so much a reprieve as a blip in form for both teams concerned. I remember at the time thinking there's scarcely a huge gap in genuine quality between the two sides and yet the difference appeared to be that when we play out of our skins we draw with them and when they have an below par night they draw with us.

Maybe but we were the ones playing below par for the majority of the group, we were on the slide with pretty much zero confidence. They were just their normal solid selves. Our home form has been a real killer, priority number one for MON should be to make Lansdowne Road a difficult place to come again. Maybe that damn Aviva is just too nice!

[DannyInvincible]

When is the team announced? I remember the good old days when Trap released the team a day before. :'(

This is far too casual. It's only three hours to kick-off!