If you could change one result in Ireland's football history...

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20/04/2006, 2:37 PM
Lionel Ritchie

Quote:

Originally Posted by OwlsFan

No, we wouldn't have done well. That team was in terminal decline no matter what the preparation. I think there is a possibility we might have ended up with 0 points and bottom of the group. Even if we had beaten Austria we would still have finished behind Portugal I think (without checking the table).

Can't agree there ...other than that the team was of course in terminal decline. You could argue Germany won the thing with a team in decline though. We went to america two years earlier with our most prolific striker plying his trade with Motherwell, were made play games in tropical conditions and we still managed to get out of the group.

By the time Euro 96 rolled round we'd have had David Connolly and Keith O'Neill as striking options, Shay Given would've been a young but credible competitor for the keepers shirt and Jack would've had seven months to blood anyone else brought to his attention as well as take out some dead wood.

I did say as well that the Austria game marked the collapse. We'd already beaten Portugal in Dublin in April and, if the Austria games had gone better (bear in mind a dreadful Northern Ireland team stuffed them home and away) a draw might well have been enough against Portugal to win the group outright or qualify as a runner up.

One last big stage for the likes of McGrath and Townsend...playing for Ireland at Villa Park maybe. Or a 24 year old Roy Keane in a green shirt at Old Trafford. We'd have been fine.
20/04/2006, 2:49 PM
Dricky

Maradona's Positive result in World cup 94. ended part of a legend..

other than that, I love the Hand of God but I'd have that goal scrached as his second was in my book the finest goal ever and was enough to beat the english. We wouldn't still be hearing england going on about it every frikken world cup....
I know slightly off point but we still have to listen to them
20/04/2006, 4:05 PM
Dassa

Quote:

Originally Posted by as_i_say

somebody ban this lad :)

im glad ye beat england that time, now we dont have to hear about spain 82 every time theres a match on up there!

sorry lads, when you are as bad as us you have to grasp on to anything even if it does make us sound like england and 66:D
20/04/2006, 4:13 PM
OwlsFan

Quote:

Originally Posted by londonred

Has to be spain 2002 , watched the rising Suns DVD recently and can't believe how we did not beat them , for most of the second half and all of extra time we were charging into them. What makes it more amazing/dissappointing is that we were up against the nucleous of the Real Madrid Champions league winners team whereas we were supposedly poorly prepared havin been on a 2 week bender in Saipan........., Quinn would of scored 10 against them little koreans in the next round.

I was at that game and my recollection is that Spain were unlucky to have a few goals chalked off for offside. No sure we created much in extra time even though we dominated. It was a good performance ok but I didn't come out of the game feeling we had been robbed - just sick at the pathetic attempts at penos and Shay diving the wrong way for ALL 5 of theirs and Mendiete's creeping under his legs. Ouch........:(
20/04/2006, 4:39 PM
geysir

They were all offside :)
Its hard to feel robbed with 2 penalties awarded in the 90 minutes. Anders was the best ref we ever had, a close second was the German in the game against Holland 2001.
What was positive about our WC 2002 was that the squad after being hit by a major blow regrouped, recovered to give their all and put in some decent performances. All this with a squad, with a few exceptions, that was composed of rookies, the injured, the average and old timers.
20/04/2006, 10:01 PM
Only2keanos

Definitely Spain in Suwon. That world cup was there for the taking. Germany got to the final by beating Korea, USA and Paraguay(I think) in the knock out stage.

Other options would have been Macedonia or the Turkey play off. I really think we had an excellent team then. A fit Quinn and Robbie Keane never played in a tournament together, plus Roy was at his best.
20/04/2006, 11:36 PM
dfx-

After being run close by the abject 3-0 defeat in the swimming pool in Portugal in '95 and the 1-1 draw away to Israel (which lost us the group and Kerr his job) and Wim Kieft's goal, the utmost, the utmost changeable result was Macedonia '99.

I can still see clearly in my mind the number two in yellow/red rise above the non-existant challenges and it going over the man on the post as if it just happened a minute ago. It is an image that is burned into my mind and probably will be there forever more.:D

The Spain game was a missed opportunity rather than a painful memory, Italia '90 was an achievement regardless - a 1-1 draw in Macedonia to go from qualification to failure with just eleven seconds to go............Aaargh!:o
21/04/2006, 12:52 PM
Forever Dreamin

Also Croatia 1-0 99 i think was the year, remember some gob****e starts singing you wont beat the irish behind us with 3 of the 5 added minutes gone, Davy says hello roars at that to shut up its not over yet, and you know the rest....mind you great result 3 days earlier beating the yugoslavs in dublin. watched that game in some kip of a pub in malta
21/04/2006, 3:04 PM
Junior

Quote:

Originally Posted by Forever Dreamin

Also Croatia 1-0 99 i think was the year, remember some gob****e starts singing you wont beat the irish behind us with 3 of the 5 added minutes gone, Davy says hello roars at that to shut up its not over yet, and you know the rest....mind you great result 3 days earlier beating the yugoslavs in dublin. watched that game in some kip of a pub in malta

you wha??? Davy superfan says hello, wasn't at the game..................
21/04/2006, 3:24 PM
ccfcgirl

The Spanish game in Korea in 2002.One of the best games I ever attended,but sadly the result just wasnt meant to be ....A lot of If only questions after that game.
21/04/2006, 3:59 PM
Pauro 76

Definitely Spain in WC 2002. if only for those missed penalties, us being a man up at one stage, so many if only's. Still hurts.
22/04/2006, 6:40 PM
Forever Dreamin

Quote:

Originally Posted by Junior

you wha??? Davy superfan says hello, wasn't at the game..................

Then im losin the plot as I sat beside him on the flight from Malta!!

remember it clearly as my young one was thrilled to meet him, dont know why but she was only about 9 at the time and her 1st away game
24/04/2006, 6:49 AM
CollegeTillIDie

Quote:

Originally Posted by tetsujin1979

Poland 1 England 1 in the Euro '92 qualifiers, if Poland had won we would have qualified for it.

Poland 3 Ireland 3 .If Dave O'Leary hadn't given the ball away TWICE for two of their goals we would have won and qualified for it. Given a team that didn't qualify actually won the tournament ( Denmark) we might have been in with a chance!:ball:
24/04/2006, 6:53 AM
CollegeTillIDie

Quote:

Originally Posted by as_i_say

somebody ban this lad :)

im glad ye beat england that time, now we dont have to hear about spain 82 every time theres a match on up there!

I love it when the North beats England personally speaking it doesn't happen often enough 1972, 2005 ....
24/04/2006, 8:22 AM
lofty9

Easy choice. Away to Macedonia. Had to go out and buy a new tv after I threw a boot at the tv when they equalized.
24/04/2006, 5:18 PM
jbyrne

Quote:

Originally Posted by CollegeTillIDie

Poland 3 Ireland 3 .If Dave O'Leary hadn't given the ball away TWICE for two of their goals we would have won and qualified for it. Given a team that didn't qualify actually won the tournament ( Denmark) we might have been in with a chance!:ball:

agree. team was at its peak at that stage. real pity we didnt qualify. houghtans miss late in one all with eng in wembley and an Aldo miss in poland nil all at home cost us qualification really
24/04/2006, 7:40 PM
stojkovic

Euro 92 definately but NOT the Poland match. It was the 1-1 draw at Wembley that done the damage. We dominated and should have won 3-1, English fans agreed. We could have won Euro 92 as the squad was very experienced and we had a young Roy Keane and Denis Irwin.

For older generation of players its WC78 and WC82. First one robbed by a bent ref in Bulgaria (French manager Hidalgo saw ref the night before with hookers supplied by the commies). The second one robbed in Brussels by bent ref. Eric Gerets dived about fifteen feet for a free kick in last min and Ceulemans fouled our keeper (McDonagh?) to score. After ref had dissallowed a perfectly good Stapleton goal in first half and booked Brady for protesting at half time. Belgian football was ridled with corruption at the time as Nottm Forest and Spurs found out against Anderlecht.

Also people say Wim Kiefts goal in Euro88. Damage was done in the 1-1 draw with Russia. Had we beaten them 2-0 as we should have done we'd have gone through to play average German team i semis.

Spain in '02, forget about it. You can't win if you only score three penalties out of seven.

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