Hakan Yakin ruled out of remaining qualifiers

[JimmyP]

http://www.eleven-a-side.com/worldcup2006/irish_soccer_detail.asp?newsid=19353

I'm going to let myself feel slightly better about things now, maybe it's because he's been the name on the scoresheets against us in the past.

Still, there's something about the campaign all coming down to the last game against Switzerland, with and David Connolly coming in, and no Roy Keane, that seems all too familiar...

[eirebhoy]

He's been poor the past few years but always seems to haunt us so it has to be good news.

[concanta]

I agree that he has been off the boil but he has been our enemy the last few games......I have a growing feeling that we might just sneak this - it will be tough and i am not by any means confident but i think it is definitely possible - even without roy keane.................but as many others have stated i think we need to worry about cyprus first - i am going for 2 1- 0 victories

[thejollyrodger]

i think the choclate makers have some good players apart from Yakin. They have young players coming through in midfield. Good news that he wont play but it will be a very tough test for us.

[concanta]

but have they though,....

Midfielders: Tranquillo Barnetta (Bayer Leverkusen), Ricardo Cabanas (Grasshoppers Zurich), Daniel Gygax (Lille), Benjamin Huggel (Eintracht Frankfurt), Johann Vogel (AC Milan), Raphael Wicky (Hamburg).

they have all been around for a while - yes they have 2 young strikers and senderos of arsenal but nothing to be afraid of

i think it will be very very tough but we might manage it

[onenilgameover]

Yes! I know he's been poor lately but god do I hate the guy....and not seeing him in a couple of weeks will probably keep me from losin my voice shouting at him...well I'ill probably lose me voice anyway...

[M@ttitude]

Yes! I know he's been poor lately but god do I hate the guy....and not seeing him in a couple of weeks will probably keep me from losin my voice shouting at him...well I'ill probably lose me voice anyway...
You'll probably lose your bird in cyprus, hah..

[onenilgameover]

You'll probably lose your bird in cyprus, hah..


I'm not bringing my ''bird'' I'm bringing my girlfriend or better half. Enjoy the cold, the wind and the rain over the next week, yeah? :p

[Stuttgart88]

I think Senderos is still injured which is good news too. Even if he plays he won't be match fit.

Do the Swiss have many on yellows going into the France game?

[Littlest Hobo]

I think Senderos is still injured which is good news too. Even if he plays he won't be match fit.

Do the Swiss have many on yellows going into the France game?

Probably their best players, Vogel and Frei are on a yellow each. Both regulars throughout the campaign, so hopefully either or both will pick up another against the french.
Wicky is suspended against france.

[tetsujin1979]

Senderos is in the squad:
from http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/050929/7/4sch.html

Switzerland squad:

Goalkeepers: Pascal Zuberbühler (FC Basel), Fabio Coltorti (Grasshoppers Zurich)

Defenders: Philipp Degen (Borussia Dortmund), Ludovic Magnin (Stuttgart), Patrick Mueller (FC Basel), Philippe Senderos (Arsenal), Boris Smiljanic (FC Basel), Christoph Spycher (Eintracht Frankfurt)

Midfielders: Tranquillo Barnetta (Bayer Leverkusen), Ricardo Cabanas (Grasshoppers Zurich), Daniel Gygax (Lille), Benjamin Huggel (Eintracht Frankfurt), Johann Vogel (AC Milan), Raphael Wicky (Hamburg)

Forwards: Alex Frei (Rennes), Mauro Lustrinelli (FC Thun), Johan Vonlanthen (Breda)

Trying to find out who's on yellow cards:
Wicky was booked against Faroes (6-0)
Haas and Hakan Yakin were booked against Ireland (1-1)
Hakan Yakin and Magnin were booked against Israel (2-2)
Lonfat was booked against Cyprus (1-0)
Wicky was booked against Faroes (1-3)
Vogel was booked against Israel (1-1)
Frei and Wicky were booked against Cyprus (1-3)

(thank you soccerbase.com!!)
So going into the French game Wicky, Haas, Frei, Magnin, Lonfat, Vogel are all carrying cards, but Lonfat isn't in the squad

Incidentally if anyone knows if there's a site that lists booking for international players, can you pass it on - it took an age to get all that together!!

[Littlest Hobo]

Senderos is in the squad:
from http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/050929/7/4sch.html

Switzerland squad:

Goalkeepers: Pascal Zuberbühler (FC Basel), Fabio Coltorti (Grasshoppers Zurich)

Defenders: Philipp Degen (Borussia Dortmund), Ludovic Magnin (Stuttgart), Patrick Mueller (FC Basel), Philippe Senderos (Arsenal), Boris Smiljanic (FC Basel), Christoph Spycher (Eintracht Frankfurt)

Midfielders: Tranquillo Barnetta (Bayer Leverkusen), Ricardo Cabanas (Grasshoppers Zurich), Daniel Gygax (Lille), Benjamin Huggel (Eintracht Frankfurt), Johann Vogel (AC Milan), Raphael Wicky (Hamburg)

Forwards: Alex Frei (Rennes), Mauro Lustrinelli (FC Thun), Johan Vonlanthen (Breda)

Trying to find out who's on yellow cards:
Wicky was booked against Faroes (6-0)
Haas and Hakan Yakin were booked against Ireland (1-1)
Hakan Yakin and Magnin were booked against Israel (2-2)
Lonfat was booked against Cyprus (1-0)
Wicky was booked against Faroes (1-3)
Vogel was booked against Israel (1-1)
Frei and Wicky were booked against Cyprus (1-3)

(thank you soccerbase.com!!)
So going into the French game Wicky, Haas, Frei, Magnin, Lonfat, Vogel are all carrying cards, but Lonfat isn't in the squad

Incidentally if anyone knows if there's a site that lists booking for international players, can you pass it on - it took an age to get all that together!!
UEFA.com is a good one

[concanta]

if we can stay clear of suspensions and the swiss are without IE senderos through injury and maybe vogel then I really think we will do it

I have to say I do not like the swiss but of all their players its alexander frei that really gets my goat

[TheJamaicanP.M.]

if we can stay clear of suspensions and the swiss are without IE senderos through injury and maybe vogel then I really think we will do it

I have to say I do not like the swiss but of all their players its alexander frei that really gets my goat

I really hope we beat the Swiss. They are such an arrogant group. Remember how Mark Kinsella became so frustrated in Basel a couple of years ago that he threw a water bottle. When we played them last year they continuously stopped us from playing with late, niggling tackles.

As for Alexander Frei, I have a story to tell about him. When the Swiss beat us 2-1 in Mick McCarthy's last game at Lansdowne, I brought my kid cousin to meet some of the Irish players after the game. As we departed from under the West Stand after meeting some of the Irish players, we passed by the Swiss team bus with most of the players on board. Lansdowne was practically empty at this stage but there was a small group of people (mostly kids with their parents) passing the Swiss bus. All I can remember is a few Swiss players taunting those Irish fans. I recognised Alexander Frei and Staphane Chapuisat as they made obscene gestures to the passing fans. I was disgusted with such behaviour from highly-paid professional footballers. I just hope the Irish team can exact sweet revenge on the bast@rds when they arrive in Lansdowne.

[paul_oshea]

the swiss ive met as a whole are cocky and one of my friends is half swiss and he admits to this openly, that in "general" they are an arrogant nation.

[elroy]

Lads Im not really sure where this concern over Sendoros is coming from. He's barely played a game for Arsenal this year, yes he was very good at times last year but he has very good defenders around him there.
Theres no way he'll be sharp for these too games with such little games. The player I would be most worried about is Frei, he's scored a good few for them this campaign so Im hoping he might pick up a yellow on sat.
Incidentally does anyone know if that game is on tv? What time is it at?

[concanta]

i find their players arrogant - not the nation - i have met many swiss and all of them are A1 friendly and charming but i dunno where they got their football team from...


the closer we get to nxt week the more confident I become.....when you lok at their squad and whos available and what we have - there is no comparison. I know we need to be careful and win the cypriot game first but if as i expect we do that I think we will finally settle our scores with the swiss and it will be a very very sweet moment. If we get to playoff we WILL qualify .... simple as that.

[Baker]

Incidentally does anyone know if that game is on tv? What time is it at?

As far as I know Setanta are showing it.

It kicks off after the Cyprus - Ireland game, around 7.45 or so.

[tetsujin1979]

Lads Im not really sure where this concern over Sendoros is coming from. He's barely played a game for Arsenal this year, yes he was very good at times last year but he has very good defenders around him there.
Theres no way he'll be sharp for these too games with such little games. The player I would be most worried about is Frei, he's scored a good few for them this campaign so Im hoping he might pick up a yellow on sat.
Incidentally does anyone know if that game is on tv? What time is it at?
He's played 3 times for Arsenal - the Community Shield against Chelsea, Newcastle at home and Chelsea away. But not since then
They conceded 2 in the shield and 1 away to Chelsea, but he helped them to a clean sheet against Newcastle.
He's played twice for Switzerland this season, Israel at home conceding 1 and Cyprus away also conceding 1, however he did score.
Not exactly first team at Arsenal, but he ws considered Campbell's replacement which does say a lot.

[Tram_14]

I really hope we beat the Swiss. They are such an arrogant group. Remember how Mark Kinsella became so frustrated in Basel a couple of years ago that he threw a water bottle. When we played them last year they continuously stopped us from playing with late, niggling tackles.

As for Alexander Frei, I have a story to tell about him. When the Swiss beat us 2-1 in Mick McCarthy's last game at Lansdowne, I brought my kid cousin to meet some of the Irish players after the game. As we departed from under the West Stand after meeting some of the Irish players, we passed by the Swiss team bus with most of the players on board. Lansdowne was practically empty at this stage but there was a small group of people (mostly kids with their parents) passing the Swiss bus. All I can remember is a few Swiss players taunting those Irish fans. I recognised Alexander Frei and Staphane Chapuisat as they made obscene gestures to the passing fans. I was disgusted with such behaviour from highly-paid professional footballers. I just hope the Irish team can exact sweet revenge on the bast@rds when they arrive in Lansdowne.

I have a real problem with Frei too, its true, his behaviour for a professional is really juvenile. The reason why Mark Kinsella threw the plastic bottle that day was because Alexander Frei goaded the Irish bench after the swiss scored their second goal..... I couldn't believe it, I have never seen players interact with the opposing bench EVER, it was completely unprofessional. I cannot understand the cocky attitude of this swiss team, I think its because they consider us similiar in strenght/quality?
On a posititive note the chances of Frei picking up his second yellow against the french is quite high, he is very hotheaded. He's not the fastest but he doesn't give up, I'd prefer not to see him on the swiss team to play us. On the other hand it would very sweet to beat the swiss with him on the team.... Unfortunately i could see myself behaving very juvenille then...:o

[Stuttgart88]

The reason why Mark Kinsella threw the plastic bottle that day was because Alexander Frei goaded the Irish bench after the swiss scored their second goal..... I couldn't believe it
I really hope that comes back to haunt him. Kerr should show the video to the team to get them fired up.

[shakermaker1982]

reading some of the posts above about the Swiss team makes my blood boil!!! Ireland have nothing to fear from them IMO, we could have beat them away with a bit more self belief. From what I've seen of Senderos over the past 12 months at Arsenal he is a weak link. Whether we can exploit that is upto Clinton and Robbie.

tetsujin1979 cheers for posting that, I have also been looking for the number of Swiss players on yellow cards without much luck.

[thejollyrodger]

I HATE the Swiss people and their crap international team, they are so arrogant its unbelivable. I met some of them on holidays and I wanted to give them a good hiding there and then.

the rod should be spared when we play them, some bone crunchers of tackles and a great victory will be enough to banish the pain from that night in basel

[Robitaille]

Hi all, my nick is Robitaille as you can see and I am Swiss. I came here to post 1-2 msg before. And I am back.
I read many of yr posts (as I did in the French or Israeli forums) to know better our opponents' thoughts. What can I say then?
Many of you just seem to enjoy the equation Swiss Team=Arrogant Team.
I am not here to prove you the contrary.
However, did you read your own messages? How many of you said Swiss are crap and Ireland are a (much) better team? I guess many of you. Isn't this arrogance, too?
Btw, where did you get the idea of this arrogance? In the Newspapers? Do some swiss underestimate Ireland? What then?

Some of you had bad experiences with swiss players (Frei, Chapuisat, etc..). Okay. But is this enough to say that the Swiss are all arrogant? Did never Keane make mistakes? Yes, he did some very bad fouls or things, like when he said he purposely injured a player (Haland, am I wrong?). Duff doesn't look an angel, neither. Is this enough to say that all Ireland players are arrogant?
My idea is that many of you behave like sheep, who follow what other said before..

In the end you are free to believe what you want, but many of you are GENERALIZING things, which is, in my opinion, a childish behaviour. The post of Jollyrodger say all... he is arrogant himself, ignorant and slightly racist...

[eirebhoy]

Duff doesn't look an angel, neither.
Apart from the odd dive, Duff is a role model to any young player trying to make it.

Anyway, some of the posts in this thread are ridiculous. Plenty of the players are idiots (Wicky made a few smart comments about Ireland about a year ago) but its nothing against Swiss people. Jolly will probably wake up tomorrow loving Switzerland, he has amnesia.

[Robitaille]

Apart from the odd dive, Duff is a role model to any young player trying to make it.

Anyway, some of the posts in this thread are ridiculous. Plenty of the players are idiots (Wicky made a few smart comments about Ireland about a year ago) but its nothing against Swiss people. Jolly will probably wake up tomorrow loving Switzerland, he has amnesia.


Well, of course I didn't mean to say Duff or Keane might not be taken as a role model.. I wanted to highlight the fact that anyone can have some bad behaviour at times, both Swiss or Irish. And the biggest mistake is to generalize.

[Junior]

We've had 4 or 5 of these thread over the last couple of years.

Frankly I find it embarassing. 'The Swiss are sh*te', 'Cocky', 'deserve a kicking', 'boring', 'arrogant'

WTF??

We are both very average teams, fine support our nation, believe we can do it - but leave the other ****e to the cavemen of the world. As far as I am concerned in the last 2 years the swiss have deserved each result they have got against us. Comments on here and on previous threads just sound very bitter.

Please god we can beat Cyprus and put in our best performance (cos thats what it will take) of the campaign to beat the Swiss by a goal or 2 at lansdowne.

[Tram_14]

I have nothing against Swiss people (obviously) & I don't think that their Team are sh!te at all, I do think that Ireland are better BUT only next wednesday will prove this.

On Frei, he is really quite "special" and having been in Basel for his embarrasing performance in front of the Irish bench, I can safely say that we don't have anyone like him in the Irish team.

Robitaille, best of luck next Wednesday, but you can understand why I never want to hear HOP SUISEE ever again in my lifetime.:)

[youngirish]

Irish people have absolutely nothing against Swiss people. We are far too busy devoting all our hate to the t**ts across the water.

[CollegeTillIDie]

I have nothing against the Swiss either.... even if they are a crowd of Mammon worshipping Merchant Bankers... or is that the Irish? :D

[concanta]

is senderos fit for saturday or our game?
does anyone know?

[wallis]

Robitaille - do us a favour and beat France please. They are not particulary great and only a moment of genius from Henry beat us. If you have any team news on your guys please post it as im sure 90% of us on here would be interested. Why not tell us how your team played after you beat France !

Best of Luck

[eirebhoy]

Why not tell us how your team played after you beat France
Why not watch it yourself on Setanta? ;)

[wallis]

err.... I stupidly thought that both games were at the same time.

Just realised that Switzerland starts when we finish !

[shakermaker1982]

is it ppv or do you have to subscribe to the channel?