Stan urges Irish to remember history lesson

Former Irish international Steve Staunton believes a good start is imperative if Ireland are to defeat Italy in Wednesday nights friendly.

The Drogheda man was part of the last Irish team to defeat Italy at the 1994 World Cup and has warned the current team not to let Italy grow in confidence. He said “If Italian teams grow in confidence early on, they can be very hard to shift and we were aware of that in the Giants Stadium in 1994.”

Ray Houghton’s volley decided matters that day and Stan believes Brian Kerr’s men must adapt a similar approach to achieve success. He continued “Our plan was to try to hit them with an early goal in the belief that if we succeeded, it would eat into their confidence.”

Staunton now at Walsall sees Septembers match with France as vital to Ireland’s chances of progression to Germany in 2006. He said “The game with France at Lansdowne Road is key to everything. If we get a result there I reckon we could be on the road to Germany. But the bottom line is if we do well against the Italians it will be a huge boost going into the game with France.”

http://www.eleven-a-side.com/worldcu...p?newsid=18665

always thought of stan as more of a dundalk man, and crikey it was hardly a volley houghton scored that day, it was a chip.

- pedantic ken :D

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Originally Posted by ken foree

always thought of stan as more of a dundalk man, and crikey it was hardly a volley houghton scored that day, it was a chip.
- pedantic ken :D

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Whatever it was, it was a fukcing goal!!!! :D

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Originally Posted by Superhoops

Whatever it was, it was a fukcing goal!!!! :D

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it was weird i think it was humped up the pitch and someone competed and the ball dropped to him running across the goal, it seemed the unlikliest goal. as if it had arrived from the sky! ;) yea ireland should harry italy but maybe not go overboard because of potential injuries this wednesday.

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Originally Posted by sligoman

Staunton now at Walsall sees Septembers match with France as vital to Ireland’s chances of progression to Germany in 2006. He said “The game with France at Lansdowne Road is key to everything. If we get a result there I reckon we could be on the road to Germany.

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What a self-evident and worthless sound bite. "If" we get a win, we "could" be on the road to Germany. We really needed Staunton to tell us that :eek: .

He only came on as a sub for Walsall at the weekend. Must be tough going from playing in Italy at Giant Stadium in the World Cup to coming on as a sub for the Saddlers against the Shrimpers at the Bescot.

crawl back underneath the rock stan :D

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Originally Posted by sligoman

The Drogheda man was part of the last Irish team to defeat Italy at the 1994

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:eek: :mad: Only born in Shelbyville, grew up in Dundalk!

It doesnt really matter how this game goes. But knowing Kerr, he'll treat it like it's the World Cup Final.