Iceland playing great stuff at moment. A brilliant move nearly put them 3 up against Dutch. Wales in another tense thriller too.
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Iceland playing great stuff at moment. A brilliant move nearly put them 3 up against Dutch. Wales in another tense thriller too.
Can that Iceland result finally shut this ****** of "big countries" v "small countries" argument when it comes to Irish football?
We have 10 times the population and we know, yet if we were playing the Netherlands these days we would have been beaten before we went out onto the pitch.
Sorry for the rant but watching teams all over Europe coming up with results that we should be aiming for and we have the cheek to call them minnows.
Congratulations to the Icelanders!
I don't believe we're beaten before we go on the pitch at all. We've had one poor campaign where we got our arses handed to us by the world champions to be. Before that we were drawing with Russia, Italy, France, etc. Fair enough a really big win has elluded us for a long time but we've held our own for the most part, certainly not beaten before we've gone on the pitch anyway.
DeLorean, you and myself and many others here don't feel that way generally. But there has been this creep over the last decade from the media and Joe Public and of course certain managers.
But then you have our gormless leader consistently weighing us down with an attitude that clearly has no place in charge of a National association.
When you see the likes of Bosnia getting to World Cups and the likes of clubs from Slovenia getting to Champions Leagues you have to wonder where the sense of ambition is at all.
Germany tanked us in the last campaign. But that's not at all what I'm getting at, the 6-1 was a freak but it was the result of an attitude that has infested us.
Fantastic result, but we all know why Irish soccer struggles...at times...the competition with numerous other sports is the main issue, plus the coaching, domestic league, development of players etc. The fans 'expectations' is only a small factor.Quote:
Originally Posted by BonnieShels
Am convinced the cod-eaters success is just cyclical with a pool of good players, enjoy it while it lasts, but it won't be for ever. But good luck for now...
We all know why but for too long we have put up with the "small country" excuse. Over the last 3 years with Iceland's (and others) results it has shown that organisation and will are what we require. We have neither. I'm tired of it.
And they followed it up with a fantastic win over Holland (who look pretty shaky so far). Fantastic start to their campaign - what's it being attributed to?Quote:
Originally Posted by geysir
Is this the result of some restructuring/refocusing which took place in Icelandic football, or is it because a number of good players happened to be coming through at the same time?
Depends who you ask :)
That Sigurdsson is a seriously underrated player. I always thought he did well when he was played at Tottenham but found it difficult to nail down a place for some reason. This goal kind of sums him up, given the lack of attention it got. We would have never heard the end of it had it been Rooney or Gerrard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxf_s2XP6DM
Did anybody see Gareth Bale's reaction at the final whistle last night? Great to see such passion from a guy who could see himself as having more important things going on. His assist for Robson-Kanu's goal was top class also.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWcH2_GT1Hw
Gylfi's a total midfield player, a class act in any of the midfield roles, the team can be adjusted by just moving him from back, to the middle to a more forward role.
On the night , Holland had just one chance, the major part in the victory was keeping Robben at bay all night. apart from that one gilt edge header. Robenn was under pressure constantly and usually was forced pass the ball back.
Lagerback picked an attacking team but they couldn't retain the ball like usual in the face of relentless Dutch pressure, until the last quarter of the game. So defensively magnificent, but work to do holding onto possession and playing the ball out.
There have always been two or three class player in every generation, like Gylfi Thor now, like Eidur Gudjonsson and his father before him, it's the rise in quality of the rest of the team players that is making the difference.Quote:
Originally Posted by osarusan
That rise in quality is mainly down to reaping the benefits from totally overhauling coaching structures, a revolution of sorts, in the way football was to be coached and played.This was done through the clubs and had its beginnings not with the FA but with enterprising ex-pros returning home who needed to eek out a living in the summer of 2001.
Also Indoor stadiums were built, meant football could be played an coached, morning noon and evening 12 months in the year.
The general standard of players that are being produced are technically better than of old. For instance, last night, Lagerback selected a young local league player, Jon Dadi nr 22, ahead of a striker who was the top scorer in the Eredvisie last season. He was the the player who was subbed around the 90th minute to the loudest ovation of the night.
And tonight the u21s play the 2nd leg of their Euro play-offs.
Serbia v Albania abandoned after 40 minutes when Albanian fans - who were supposedly banned - flew in a drone carrying the Albanian flag and a map of Kosovo. Seems a Serbian player tore the flag down, and the Albanian players started on-pitch fights as a result. A few fans joined in, and the game was called off.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/foo...-belgrade.html
What a start by Northern Ireland. A 2-0 win away to Greece leaves them with 3 wins from 3 games.
Awful isn't it Osa.
not really funny, kind of surreal, but here's an Albanian using a mascot's head for protection leaving the field. The other players had no such luck finding protection.Quote:
Originally Posted by pineapple stu
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/image...albania_ap.jpg
Guardian is saying the drone was launched by the albanian presidents brother from the vip box:
http://www.theguardian.com/football/...16-flag-halted
Looking at the video, it seems that actually is the mascot.Quote:
Originally Posted by osarusan
Couldn't really care about it.Quote:
Originally Posted by BonnieShels
They're just another team like Wales whose results only stand out if they're particularly good or bad.
If O'Shea hadn't equalised I would have been annoyed. As it stands I don't care. :)
I don't mind the North doing well in football, during the night at some stage, the news did filter through a haze of beer fumes, nerves, anger, disgust and finally rapture, that they had beaten Greece, but that would have been no consolation if we had lost our game. When they were getting humped left right and centre, from Reykjavik to Thorshavn to Luxembourg, they were just a sight for sore eyes.
But ff to O'Neill for getting that best away qualification result in ages, that alone is enough to justify beating a lambeg sized drum about. Strange that the O'Neills are finally ruling Irish football.
Steady on lad, rapture? How would you have reacted to a win? :eek:Quote:
Originally Posted by geysir
I think we scraped a draw in Torshavn last time to be fair.
Anyway, impressive continuing results for your boys. You mentioned upthread indoor facilities around the country, does this mean lots of five-a-side pitches or something bigger?