FAI International Soccer Awards

[eirebhoy]

The Football Association of Ireland today announced the nominees for the 15th eircom/ FAI International Soccer Awards which will be held on Sunday 6th February 2005 at the Citywest Hotel, Saggart, Co Dublin. The event will be televised live by RTE.

Also, awards for International Personality, Special Merit and Hall of Fame will be announced on the night. Recent winners in these categories were Michel Platini, Des Casey and Liam Tuohy.
http://www.fai.ie/article.asp?hlid=249190&Title=15th+eircom/FAI+International+Soccer+Awards+nominations&lid=Main+News&sub=15th+eircom/FAI+International+Soccer+Awards+nominations&navlid=&sublid=

Some of the 15 catagories...

Senior Player of the year Nominees:
Robbie Keane
Shay Given
Kevin Kilbane

Young player of the year Nominees:
Liam Miller :confused:
John O'Shea :confused:
Andy Reid

Under 21 player of the year Nominees:
Stephen Elliott
Glenn Whelan
John Fitzgerald

Eircom league player of the year:
Jason Byrne (Shelbourne)
Owen Heary (Shelbourne)
Sean Dillon (Longford)

International goal of the year:
Graham Barrett versus Jamacia
Robbie Keane versus Holland
Andy Reid versus Cyprus

[Éanna]

Young player of the year Nominees:
Liam Miller :confused:
John O'Shea :confused:

:rolleyes:



Under 21 player of the year Nominees:
Glenn Whelan
John Fitzgerald

:rolleyes:

[gustavo]

bloody hell !
millers older than i am and im 23!
surely kilbane and reid are shoe ins for those international awards.

[Slash/ED]

Damien Duff not even in the running for international player of the year? :confused:

[eirebhoy]

Damien Duff not even in the running for international player of the year? :confused:
he only played half of it.

From the nominations I think Kilbane, Reid, Elliott and Heary are all certs. I'd go with Reid again for goal of the year but thats a tough one.

[Slash/ED]

That is true but he only missed a few friendlys, he's been our best player in the second half of the year and the fact that the big competitive games are in that should be taken into account imo. I think it's between Given and Kilbane probably with Kilbane shading it but Givens performance against Switzerland could be enough to swing it his way. Reid and Elliot are show ins for their award, Heary more than likely will win his but I think the goal will goto Keane V Holland.

[eirebhoy]

Its not just international performances though, its also performances for their club too and Duff didn't play for Chelsea until the very end of September. At least thats the way in England anyway.

[Superhoops]

I'd go with Reid again for goal of the year but thats a tough one.
The easiest one to pick -Robbie v Holland

[eirebhoy]

The easiest one to pick -Robbie v Holland
I'm actually talking about this on another forum too. I have both goals on my PC.When I say both players took their shot from the same distance from the edge of the box, I mean virtually exact. The only difference was that Reid took is from the right while Robbie took his from the middle. Reid took less than 2 seconds to take his shot and was closed down immediately. Keane had all the time in the world and the closest player was 2-3 metres away. A couple of inches to the left and Reid's would have hit the post, a couple of inches to the right and it would have hit the closing Cyprus players leg (he is superb at hitting a target, he absolutely belted the ball into the hole on soccer am and its quite difficult, particularly as hard as he hit it). Keane ran with the ball from the halfway line but nobody was near him so that shouldn't make a difference. They were both spectacular goals but Reid's is just that little bit better IMO. Put it this way, Reid's was a lot harder to score which is what I'm judging it by as they were both fantastic on the eye.

[Superhoops]

.... I have both goals on my PC.When I say both players took their shot from the same distance from the edge of the box, I mean virtually exact. The only difference was that Reid took is from the right while Robbie took his from the middle. Reid took less than 2 seconds to take his shot and was closed down immediately. Keane had all the time in the world and the closest player was 2-3 metres away. A couple of inches to the left and Reid's would have hit the post, a couple of inches to the right and it would have hit the closing Cyprus players leg....
Hard to argue with techology!

[Slash/ED]

I think the fact Keane had time makes it more impressive if anything. Andy Reid did his on instinct but Keane picked his spot, if that makes sense. Sometimes it makes it's easier to shoot on your instinct when your rushed

[Stuttgart88]

I'm surprised Duff's goal vs Canada wasn't included in the goal of the year. Or was that 2003?

Barrett vs Jamaica? Scraping the barrell I think. I thought Clinton's goal in Basle was pretty good.

[pete]

Whose that Fitzgerald guy from u-21s???

I think the international young player award has loose age restriction.

[Stuttgart88]

John Fitzgerald of Blackburn Rovers I think. A centre-back.

A good player but I thought Paddy McCarthy has been the better performer of the two. Both get goals from corners, frees etc. Any of the regular U21 attendees have a view on Fitzgerald?

[NeilMcD]

I would give the goal of the year to Robbie keanes goal and the reason I andy Reids, input which actually means him losing out. The run off the ball was great and created the game for robbie to go into and shoot. I was right behind that one, and it was a fantastic end to a half were we played great football. for all round goal I think that Robbies was the best. Kilbane was great against Brazil and France and the Czech Republic too. He was muck against Switzerland. Robbies Form has been patchy but he is probably in there due to him breaking the scoring record as the away match to France and the game against Holland were probably his only 2 decent performances. Given has been solid all year and was fantastic in Switzerland and solid in all the rest. I think Duff should have been nominated too. For consistancy it has to go to Given though.

[eirebhoy]

Neil, again I'll say it, in England the player of the year doesn't even have to have played an international as its club form too. I assume its the same here. BTW, nobody followed Reid for Keane's goal. ;)

[NeilMcD]

Yes but these are the International Soccer Awards. The awards in England are voted by either the players that play in England is open to players that are not from England. This is an International award ceremony plus and award for the League of Ireland scene. THe winner always gets it for his contribution to the international team. It is totally different to the PFA or the Football Writers in England. In relation to the second point, maybe no defender actualy went and followed Reid but it did mean that they were not as able to get as close to Keane as they would have liked as that would have let Keane Slip Reid in. It was very intelligent running by Andy Reid In my opinion.

[pete]

Andy Reid will clearly win young player award. Slightly off topic but he would be an advert for keeping McGready in the u-21s as opposed to squad member of senior team.

Andy Reid should win best goal as was a qualifying match & an important goal. Robbies was good but only a friendly.

[eirebhoy]

You're thinking of different awards. Here are the players nominated for England's player of the year:
http://www.thefa.com/static/playerofyear/PlayeroftheYear.html

I think its safe to say that a lot of those players hardly played for England in 2004. I assume our award is the same as there's.

[eirebhoy]

Under-19
Willo Flood – Manchester City FC
Henry McStay – Leeds United FC
Mark Yeates – Tottenham Hotspur FC

Under-17
Darron Gibson – Manchester United FC
John Paul Kelly – Unattached at present/Liverpool FC
Darren Randolph – Charlton Athletic FC

Under-16
Robert Bayly – Leeds United AFC
Eddie Nolan – Blackburn Rovers FC
Keith Treacy – Blackburn Rovers FC


FAI Schools International
David Bracken – Templeogue College/Bohemian FC
Damien Kelly – St. Kieran’s College/UCD FC
Darren Quigley – St. Laurence’s College./UCD FC (Jaysus, there's a lot of Quigley's in the international scene).

--------------------------

Willo Flood has to get the U19 award. Joxer Kelly for the U17 as he ran the show for Liverpool at that level.

[NeilMcD]

I would not make that assumption at all. I would go on past winners and when watching the awards it has generally been players that have performed really well at international level. I would not think that club form plays that big a deal in it.

[eirebhoy]

As a matter of fact does anyone have a list of past winners?

[pineapple stu]

Opening an old can of worms here, but I wouldn't have had Robbie Keane up for Player of the Year. Still far too wasteful in my book. Given or Kilbane are deserving winners, with Duff in as well.

Goal has to Andy Reid's though - mainly for the instinctive nature and the sheer accuracy. Plus, I was standing right behind it and saw just how much it moved on the way! :)

Nice to see two UCD players up for the Schools Awards (even though that sounds a contradiction in terms!)