Republic of Ireland v. Wales - Friday, 24th March 2017 - World Cup 2018 Qualifier

[DannyInvincible]

I just heard on the news this evening that the game against Wales at the end of March is a sell-out.

The FAW have been allocated 3,500 away tickets and the FAI have confirmed that Irish fans will receive the same number of tickets for the reverse fixture in Cardiff.

In related news, it was reported yesterday that Gareth Bale will return to training with Real Madrid this week: http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/f...-a7542286.html

He's still a while off returning to first-team action, but it's looking increasingly likely that he'll be fit to play come the end of March, assuming he experiences no setbacks along the way.

Gareth Bale hopes to return to training this week as he steps up his rehab from an ankle injury.

The Wales forward has been out since November after suffering a “traumatic dislocation of the peroneal tendons” in his ankle during Real Madrid’s 2-1 Champions League victory at Sporting Lisbon.

Bale was operated on in London at the end of November and now, after nearly two months of solo work, he is preparing to return to the European champions' Valdebebas training ground to step up his recovery.

Real Madrid hope to have him working with a ball by February, but are still setting a cautious timetable for his return.

The 27-year-old winger is still very unlikely to recover in time for Madrid's Champions League round-of-16 first-leg encounter with Napoli in mid-February and remains a doubt for the second leg, with early March a more realistic target for Bale as he seeks to aid his side's La Liga push.

...

Wales manager Chris Coleman remains optimistic that Bale will be fit to feature in the national side’s World Cup qualifier against the Republic of Ireland in March.

[DannyInvincible]

Bale will return to the Real Madrid squad for their game against Espanyol tomorrow: http://www.goal.com/en/news/722/la-l...onfirms-zidane

Bale will be in the squad and the idea is for him to have some minutes. He's excited to be with us and we're happy to have him, although we still have two or three who have injuries. Nearly everyone is ready.

Bale is an important player. We know his quality, his speed, the damage he can cause the opposition. I'm happy to have him but he's even happier to be back with the team and ready to play.

[geysir]

Bale will return to the Real Madrid squad for their game against Espanyol tomorrow: http://www.goal.com/en/news/722/la-l...onfirms-zidane

At least it appears that Real Madrid (best team in the world) want Bale back in their team and are counting down the hours to his return, whereas apparently there's at least one alleged knowledgeable Wales' fan who thinks Bale wouldn't be missed that much if he didn't play for Wales and doesn't add that much when he does play.

[KrisLetang]

Pride goeth before the FAW.

[DeLorean]

Bale has just come on in the 70th minute for Real Madrid.

Edit - and scores to make it 2-0.

[geysir]

Bale has just come on in the 70th minute for Real Madrid.

and the pony tailed wonder has just scored.

[samhaydenjr]

Along with the upcoming qualifier against Wales, it should be noted that the friendly game against Iceland takes place after the qualifier and gives an opportunity for experimentation, as opposed to the Uruguay friendly in June which takes place before the Austria game and will likely be used for fine-tuning of the squad and tactics. And with the large number of Irish players making their mark this season, I thought it might be a good idea to think about who we could give caps to in that game. As such I’ve compiled a list of players who could reasonably stake a claim and put it up for debate. So the two questions I want you guys to answer are:

1. How many of these players should be given a run-out? If we cap too few or none of them, are we missing a golden opportunity to blood in players who could conceivably play a part in the fall qualifiers? If we give too many of them a game does it become a pointless exercise as they don’t get to play with established squad members?
2. Who should play?

In order to define “players who could reasonably stake a claim” I’ve come up with the following criteria: players should be under 30 (as we’d be primarily be looking at players for future campaigns), with five or fewer caps and who have broken through at Championship level at least, even if recently (but they must have some game time under their belt, so bench sitters are omitted, and must still be in the squad). I have made an exception to these criteria for the Aberdeen duo and for goalkeepers with significant Premier League experience. I have also assumed that some currently injured players will be back in time. Also, after giving it a bit of thought I have included the potentially eligible players who have been under consideration recently but have not committed to us yet – based on the advice of Clinton Morrison to such players, if they haven’t given us an answer by then, then they’re probably not interested. The criteria may not be perfect, as it includes players who nobody thinks will ever get close to the squad, but I didn’t want to omit players who may not get much limelight but are still playing at a high level. So without further ado, here’s the list of players we could blood in against Iceland:
GOALKEEPERS
Robert Elliott, Mark Bunn, Stephen Henderson
DEFENDERS
Aidan White, Corey O’Keefe, Tommie Hoban, Derrick Williams, John Egan, Tom Field, Damien McCrory, Greg Cunningham, Matt Doherty
MIDFIELDERS
Harry Arter, Adam Hammill, Stephen Gleeson, Darragh Lenihan, Alan Judge, Callum O’Dowda, Sean Scannell, Eunan O’Kane, Daryl Horgan, Alan Browne, Ryan Manning, Liam Kelly, Anthony Forde, Connor Ronan, Jonny Hayes
FORWARDS
Scott Hogan, Lukas Jutkiewicz, Anthony Stokes, David McGoldrick, Joe Mason, Adam Rooney

[geysir]

Sam, I'd hazard a guess that's the first time anyone has used the term "without further ado" in a post here.
I can picture Danny thinking 'that's a line I could use to some good effect'.

[samhaydenjr]

Along with the upcoming qualifier against Wales, it should be noted that the friendly game against Iceland takes place after the qualifier and gives an opportunity for experimentation, as opposed to the Uruguay friendly in June which takes place before the Austria game and will likely be used for fine-tuning of the squad and tactics. And with the large number of Irish players making their mark this season, I thought it might be a good idea to think about who we could give caps to in that game. As such I’ve compiled a list of players who could reasonably stake a claim and put it up for debate. So the two questions I want you guys to answer are:

1. How many of these players should be given a run-out? If we cap too few or none of them, are we missing a golden opportunity to blood in players who could conceivably play a part in the fall qualifiers? If we give too many of them a game does it become a pointless exercise as they don’t get to play with established squad members?
2. Who should play?

In order to define “players who could reasonably stake a claim” I’ve come up with the following criteria: players should be under 30 (as we’d be primarily be looking at players for future campaigns), with five or fewer caps and who have broken through at Championship level at least, even if recently (but they must have some game time under their belt, so bench sitters are omitted, and must still be in the squad). I have made an exception to these criteria for the Aberdeen duo and for goalkeepers with significant Premier League experience. I have also assumed that some currently injured players will be back in time. Also, after giving it a bit of thought I have included the potentially eligible players who have been under consideration recently but have not committed to us yet – based on the advice of Clinton Morrison to such players, if they haven’t given us an answer by then, then they’re probably not interested. The criteria may not be perfect, as it includes players who nobody thinks will ever get close to the squad, but I didn’t want to omit players who may not get much limelight but are still playing at a high level. So without further ado, here’s the list of players we could blood in against Iceland:
GOALKEEPERS
Robert Elliott, Mark Bunn, Stephen Henderson
DEFENDERS
Aidan White, Corey O’Keefe, Tommie Hoban, Derrick Williams, John Egan, Tom Field, Damien McCrory, Greg Cunningham, Matt Doherty
MIDFIELDERS
Harry Arter, Adam Hammill, Stephen Gleeson, Darragh Lenihan, Alan Judge, Callum O’Dowda, Sean Scannell, Eunan O’Kane, Daryl Horgan, Alan Browne, Ryan Manning, Liam Kelly, Anthony Forde, Connor Ronan, Jonny Hayes
FORWARDS
Scott Hogan, Lukas Jutkiewicz, Anthony Stokes, David McGoldrick, Joe Mason, Adam Rooney

I forgot last night that Stokes has nine caps, so please don't consider him for this exercise (don't really want him on the team anyway, given his shameful off-field behaviour)

[CraftyToePoke]

GOALKEEPERS
Robert Elliott, Mark Bunn, Stephen Henderson
DEFENDERS
Aidan White, Corey O’Keefe, Tommie Hoban, Derrick Williams, John Egan, Tom Field, Damien McCrory, Greg Cunningham, Matt Doherty
MIDFIELDERS
Harry Arter, Adam Hammill, Stephen Gleeson, Darragh Lenihan, Alan Judge, Callum O’Dowda, Sean Scannell, Eunan O’Kane, Daryl Horgan, Alan Browne, Ryan Manning, Liam Kelly, Anthony Forde, Connor Ronan, Jonny Hayes
FORWARDS
Scott Hogan, Lukas Jutkiewicz, Anthony Stokes, David McGoldrick, Joe Mason, Adam Rooney

I think Ian Lawlor despite dropping to tier four, is worth an eye on, Doncaster are top and were a surprise relegation, and I think were lucky to get him, but he is in the side there, its his shirt and he's only 22.

In the middle, any reason Hourihane missed out ?

[DeLorean]

GOALKEEPERS
Robert Elliott, Mark Bunn, Stephen Henderson

Henderson is out for the rest of the season after trying to keep out Wessi's long range lob. I agree with Crafty about Ian Lawlor, definitely somebody we should be keeping an eye on as his age profile could be of more benefit than any of the three mentioned here. Westwood should be the one to see game time against Iceland I think.

DEFENDERS
Aidan White, Corey O’Keefe, Tommie Hoban, Derrick Williams, John Egan, Tom Field, Damien McCrory, Greg Cunningham, Matt Doherty

The three in bold are most deserving of a run out at this point I think. I'd start Doherty right back and Cunningham left back. I only saw the first half of Wolves v Chelsea the other day but Doherty always impresses me, he put in one very dangerous ball with his left foot as well, very accomplished on that side it seems.


MIDFIELDERS
Harry Arter, Adam Hammill, Stephen Gleeson, Darragh Lenihan, Alan Judge, Callum O’Dowda, Sean Scannell, Eunan O’Kane, Daryl Horgan, Alan Browne, Ryan Manning, Liam Kelly, Anthony Forde, Connor Ronan, Jonny Hayes

I'd be most interested in seeing those in bold. Arter and O'Dowda are close enough to the first team picture as it is so are probably likely to feature anyway and we have a fair idea what O'Kane can bring if required. I like him though. As Crafty mentions, Hourihane should probably be the first name on this list. Will Judge be available by then?

FORWARDS
Scott Hogan, Lukas Jutkiewicz, Anthony Stokes, David McGoldrick, Joe Mason, Adam Rooney

I'd get over Stokes' off-field misdemeanour but he doesn't warrant a call up based on his club form/non-form anyway. Obviously I'd be happy enough to see Hogan in the unlikely event that it'll happen but there's not much there that gets me too excited. I'd happily have a look at Sean Maguire over most/all of those.

Just a few comments above.

[nigel-harps1954]

Adam Rooney is probably the only striker I'd consider from that list. Would look at Sean Maguire before the rest of them.

[tetsujin1979]

Not sure if it's been pointed out, but it'll be ten years to the date since the 1-0 win in Croke Park in 2007

[geysir]

The game v Wales could be a qualification defining game in our favour
And we are not alone, our traditional allies Georgia could do us yet another good turn.

The show horned game v Iceland will likely be a very low key event against a 2nd string team.

[DeLorean]

Not sure if it's been pointed out, but it'll be ten years to the date since the 1-0 win in Croke Park in 2007

That was a lovely move and finish by Stephen Ireland but that heavy second touch should really have done for him. Thankfully the Wales goalkeeper (Google: Danny Coyne!) was very slow to react.