Mexico v Republic of Ireland - Met Life Stadium NJ - Friday, 2nd June 2017 - Friendly

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Originally Posted by DannyInvincible

Wilson and Gibson are back for the first time in a while, if I'm not mistaken.

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Gibson was in the Wales/Iceland squad: http://www.fai.ie/ireland/news/oneil...-iceland-games

Wilson was in the Moldova/Serbia squad: http://www.fai.ie/ireland/news/oneil...ia-and-moldova
I'm more surprised at Wilson to be honest, Gibson is an O'Neill favourite so once he proved he was fit he was always going to get in the squad

Other than the two strikers, there's no glaring omissions, we know players will be dropped over the coming weeks anyway, and of course there's going to be injuries in the final games of the domestic season.

And Harry Arter will have a stag party to go to

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Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

...but a goalkeeper better than he actually is :)

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Yep. See Simon Mignolet.

Do you guys think O'Kane will be coming to the US for the Mexico game? If so do any of you have any problem with me escorting him to Charleston for this event? I've already Tweeted at them and they say he is welcome. DannyInvincible has agreed to set up a kitty for me so we can pay for gas and stop at a Waffle House and then a Carl's Junior on the way back. I would also like to make a donation in Foot.ie's name to the Human Fund.

https://twitter.com/americnhumanist?...Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Anyone know is the Mexico game on TV?

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Originally Posted by Diggs246

Anyone know is the Mexico game on TV?

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I haven't seen anything confirmed but these types of fixtures are usually on Eir Sport (previously Setanta).

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Originally Posted by Diggs246

Anyone know is the Mexico game on TV?

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According to LiveOnSat, the Uruguay game will be on Premier Sports (which usually means it's also shown on eir Sport, I think) but there's no indication that the Mexico game will be broadcast anywhere yet: http://liveonsat.com/los.soc_friend_intl_ALL.php

I'd imagine someone will cover it. I'd be surprised if it wasn't on eir Sport.

Yeah those sites rarely show Irish broadcasters anyway. I remember our match against Costa Rica wasn't televised a couple of years back so hopefully that's not the case this time.

I can live tweet it I guess.
Welcome everyone to beautiful Eastern East Rutherford.

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Originally Posted by DeLorean

Yeah those sites rarely show Irish broadcasters anyway. I remember our match against Costa Rica wasn't televised a couple of years back so hopefully that's not the case this time.

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The Costa Rica match was on Setanta I'm fairly sure.

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Originally Posted by Wangball

The lack of striking options in that squad is heartbreaking. At this point would it be worth looking at Sean Maguire from Cork or Aidan O'Brien @ Millwall? Kevin Doyle was a great servant but at this point in time what does he bring to the squad? Same with Murphy.

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The benefits of living and playing at altitude? Don't get too downhearted Wangball - while none of our strikers are prolific and three are likely in their final campaign, they are all capable of grabbing a goal, plus we have some goalscoring potential in midfield. As I've stated elsewhere, it becomes a big worry for the next campaign, but we have a number of options in the pipeline and hopefully a few of them will start to make an impression next season (like Maguire)

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Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin

The Costa Rica match was on Setanta I'm fairly sure.

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Don't think so Charles - http://foot.ie/threads/187206-Republ...=1#post1757741

And I don't think they're showing the Mexico game either. I saw Eir Sport's report on the the squad announcement on Facebook last night and it was specified that they're showing the Uruguay game live, but nothing about Mexico.

And the same thing here - https://twitter.com/eirSport/status/864107630377263106

Interesting take from Daniel McDonnell - http://www.independent.ie/sport/socc...-35719338.html

He's got a point although it would have probably been worth pointing out that Duffy & Clark are now Premier League players again.

It does seem much easier to earn a call up as a centre back which doesn't make a lot of sense, seeing as we're fairly well stocked there with everybody fit.

Maguire and Sheridan's club commitments might have skewed things a bit though, perhaps one or both would have been called up if their circumstances were different. I'm not sure why O'Donnell suggests that O'Neill has reservations about Sheridan. That's obviously been the case back along but it remains to be seen whether his form at a higher level has changed that.

Edit - oh okay, I hadn't seen this comment from O'Neill on Sheridan, I can see why O'Donnell says the above now.

"He was in consideration, but other people are ahead of him at this moment," says O'Neill of Sheridan.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/socc...-35716214.html

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Originally Posted by DeLorean

Interesting take from Daniel McDonnell - http://www.independent.ie/sport/socc...-35719338.html

He's got a point although it would have probably been worth pointing out that Duffy & Clark are now Premier League players again.

It does seem much easier to earn a call up as a centre back which doesn't make a lot of sense, seeing as we're fairly well stocked there with everybody fit.

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McDonnell makes the following point:

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Originally Posted by Dan McDonnell

O'Neill says he doesn't want to throw caps around like confetti, so it's striking when players [such as Kevin Long] are included on a long list off the strength of a handful of outings. That's the value of the Premier League stamp.

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It does seem odd to me that, on account of two recent Premier League appearances where he's been brought into Burnley's starting line-up on account of injuries to other players in the centre-back position, Kevin Long is, in the mind of O'Neill, all of a sudden a player worthy of provisional-squad selection, whereas the player apparently wasn't deemed worthy of consideration, say, two months ago. Or was O'Neill somehow unaware of Long's existence or abilities until the recent spotlight was cast upon him by virtue of the player having made his EPL debut? (It's hardly as if Long has appeared on the scene out of nowhere though; he's 26.) If that is the case (although I personally don't think it is), we need to improve our scouting.

If O'Neill, on the other hand, has been aware of Long for quite some time (which is surely more likely), has he so little faith in his own judgment of the player that he needed Sean Dyche to give Long a chance first so as to "justify" or "give the green light" for the international call-up? Couldn't he or a subordinate have proactively made it their business to observe and evaluate Long themselves before this?

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Originally Posted by DannyInvincible

Couldn't he or a subordinate have proactively made it their business to observe and evaluate Long themselves before this?

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O'Neill He say that Roy Keane had been to see Long play

from https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2017...ireland-squad/

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Roy saw him play last week and he said that you shouldn’t discount him

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"We must get full price for him." Roy added.

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Originally Posted by tetsujin1979

O'Neill He say that Roy Keane had been to see Long play

from https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2017...ireland-squad/

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I'd been aware someone had watched Long within the past two weeks, but what I meant above was: couldn't someone have checked him out prior to this last fortnight? Was last week the first time someone from the set-up ever bothered to assess him? Was there no curiosity or interest in assessing his ability/potential before this considering he was an Irish player in an EPL squad?

Why did O'Neill have to wait for Dyche to first give the "rubber stamp" or "seal of international approval" by selecting him to start two EPL games? Did those two outings really render Long - seemingly regarded as unworthy of consideration two months ago - all-of-a-sudden worthy of consideration now? Even Long himself was surprised by how out-of-the-blue his selection was.

I acknowledge he hasn't seen much first-team action and, of course, it's easier to observe a player when they've been selected in an EPL starting line-up, but it's not the only means by which an international manager or his staff/scouts/contacts can observe or evaluate a potential player.

It just strikes me as odd that this guy, who is 26 and who has been in Burnley's squad all season, wasn't on O'Neill's radar a month or two ago, but he makes Burnley's starting line-up twice in the last fortnight - draws one game and loses the other whilst conceding four goals in the process, albeit to generally positive individual reviews - and he is suddenly "safe" to take a punt on and is named in our provisional squad. His naming in the provisional squad appears to have more to do with the fact he received an EPL manager's blessing than anything else.

I'm not saying he shouldn't be in the provisional squad either, by the way. It's great we have another viable and capable option. It's just the sudden manner of his selection is odd and has me wondering why he wasn't on the radar or assessed before now.

I think it's another example of O'Neill being somewhat hesitant or lacking the courage or initiative to go out on a limb himself. I accept that bringing O'Dowda (who only had fifteen minutes of senior international football against Belarus under his belt at the time) on against Moldova whilst the score was still 1-1 was a bold move (and it's also worth mentioning that I appreciate and greatly admire his motivational skills), but, generally, O'Neill seems to be more reactive and conservative in his selections than proactive. Am I being unfair on him? :o

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Originally Posted by DannyInvincible

O'Neill seems to be more reactive and conservative in his selections than proactive. Am I being unfair on him? :o

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I'd imagine O'Neill knew little or nothing about Long before his recent appearances. It could very easily be a similar situation to the time Trap went to see Hendrick play and came back with Keogh as well.

There's no doubt O'Neill is an upgrade on Trap in terms of evaluating the players we have out there, but I don't get the impression he's overly thorough either. Bar O'Dowda, who I'd say he saw by fluke, and the Dundalk guys who became almost impossible to ignore, I think he's quite content to wait for players to pop up at what he considers the appropriate level to be assessed.

I don't think his selections have anything to do with lacking the courage to go out on a limb, I wouldn't see including somebody in a squad/provisional squad as going out on a limb anyway, it's not like it generates any hysteria amongst the media or supporters, or that he would need to trust the player in a big game straight away. If anything, the more obscure inclusions are always portrayed as a good news story.

There's no doubt O'Neill can be a pretty conservative manager when it comes to team selection & tactics, but I think that's a slightly different discussion.

Alan Browne called into the squad: https://twitter.com/i/web/status/866700216090726400

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NEW ADDITION: Martin O'Neill has called up #IRLU21 international Alan Browne to his squad for the upcoming games. #COYBIG

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No word yet on who he's replacing, if anyone

Bereft of strikers and overstocked with defensive midfielders, so he calls up a defensive midfielder.

He did the same thing against Iceland.

And just like Kevin Long, you have to question what Browne has done to deserve a call up; the lad has undoubted talent, but he hasn't pushed on this season.

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if another striker is ruled out and he calls up someone like Stephen Dawson.