welcome back weldondhino.whatever happened that 3-0 massacre you predicted for us.
id love if you opened a bookies id be yer best customer!
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welcome back weldondhino.whatever happened that 3-0 massacre you predicted for us.
id love if you opened a bookies id be yer best customer!
Final squad announced. McShane in, Foley out.
1 Given
2 St Ledger
3 Ward
4 O'Shea
5 Dunne
6 Whelan
7 McGeady
8 Andrews
9 Doyle
10 Keane
11 Duff
12 Kelly
13 McShane
14 Walters
15 Gibson
16 Westwood
17 Hunt
18 O'Dea
19 Long
20 Cox
21 Green
22 McClean
23 Forde
i posted this already on the other thread CD.
Don't you dare steal my thunder, Paul O'Shea.
How dare you I was first. You can see by the fact your post to this thread was up top of the list, therefore my post was before yours :P
Interesting "Ironically, Foley trained at the Stadio Comunale Alberto Benedetti in Borgo A Buggiano last night, while McShane did not after suffering a bruised heel during Saturday's 1-0 friendly victory over Bosnia-Herzegovina in Dublin'"
If this is true sounds to me like a football call rather than a fitness one. Not fair on Foley in fairness, unless he hurt himself in training last night.
Yep, confirmed by Trap it's a footballing decision. Awful for Foley - shades of Gary Waddock.
Trap: "Kevin has been recovering well, I have made the difficult decision after completing fitness tests on O’Shea and McShane."
I assume the decision is because of the ongoing fitness concerns over O'Shea, Dunne, O'Dea and St Ledger, meaning extra centre half cover is needed.
I know he covers a lot of ground, but still?Quote:
Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin
Should we read into the squad numbers 1-11 being the expected starting side as a confirmation? I don't massively disagree with it but I'd like to think he's keeping an open mind about Long over Doyle or alternatives to Ward.
Exactly my thoughts, seems to be his starting XI numbered as so.Quote:
Originally Posted by Murfinator
Croatia and Lyons Dejan Lovren, dropped from the 23 with an Achilles injury. Thats good news as he is a regular at centre back and further weakens an already questionable defence.
http://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/stor...ame-squad.html
Love this article from an Australian rag. Hopefully, the PM makes them withdraw!
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/so...-1226373190838
So tell me Kevin, you're a male right? oh Lord....any penalty points? yeah, 2! Oh sweet Lamb of Devine....Fully Comp? Yippeee!Quote:
Originally Posted by SkStu
Nononsense.ie?
Strange.
When the draw was made I thought, we're screwed. We won't get a goal never mind a point...
Then a few months passed and I thought, we may take a point off the Croats. I mean they're not as good as they were.
Then I started thinking, well neither are the Italians right????
Now we're a week away, I'm thinking we'll draw with the Croats, rattle Spain but lose and beat the Italians for sure!
Am I getting carried away here on pure blinkered optimism, or can we actually get out of this group????
Strange..
we have a chance of getting out of the group but when have we last beaten anyone ranked higher than us in a competitive match? All 3 of our group opponents are top 10 ranked.Quote:
Originally Posted by Zizou
my hope is that we are still in contention in the Italy match and by some freak three draws does it for us!
The Fifa World Rankings are the biggest load of poop ever. I pay them no attention. Looking through the final squads, Italy and Croatia look like the weakest squads they have ever taken to a major tournament. I know we're not exactly choc full of world class talent, but both these teams are beatable. I'm sure of it now. It's not just the excitement. I think we'll do it. And then in the quarters, Engerland.... :DQuote:
Originally Posted by jbyrne
i dont know what this means... :(Quote:
Originally Posted by Kingdom
Agree - that Croatian team is overrated plus they have the capacity to bottle it, big time as i keep ribbing my father in law about :D. The Italians are under a cloud of controversy, have a pretty weak squad by their standards and we have a good record against em but in a big fight they usually pull out their big cojones and do the job. Its going to be tough. But we have a chance.Quote:
Originally Posted by Zizou
Quote:
Originally Posted by gastric
Is he blaming the game of football itself then rather than the personalities involved? Maybe he wishes Italian politics were suspended too...Quote:
"I'm not making a proposal and even less so a governmental one but it is something that sometimes I wish for as someone who has loved football for many years," he said during a meeting with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk yesterday.
"Maybe it would benefit the development of our citizens to have a total suspension of this game for two or three years.
"It's particularly sad when a world, such as sport, that should express high values is guilty of the most reprehensible ones such as treachery, illegality and deceit."
In seriousness though, it's a preposterous notion, but not a proposal, as he points out.
I think (like yourself) he's poking fun at bouts of hysteria over a bit of loose straw to clutch at.Quote:
Originally Posted by SkStu
Spain are playing South Korea this evening. 1-0 up in the first half through Torres.
Spain lineup as below:
G 23 Pepe Reina
D 15 Sergio Ramos
D 2 Raúl Albiol
D 3 Nacho Monreal
D 17 Álvaro Arbeloa
M 14 Xabi Alonso
M 10 Beñat
M 20 Santi Cazorla
M 21 David Silva
F 9 Fernando Torres
F 13 Juan Mata
1-1 now..
Spain 4 - 1 South Korea, FT.
I had a dream of Paul McShane defending against Spain and then I woke up and realised it was a nightmare. Please be fit O'Shea and Kelly!
Former Germany striker Carsten Jancker has tipped Ireland to emerge from the group ahead of Italy and Croatia.
http://au.fourfourtwo.com/news/24161...-disaster.aspx
any one see the referendum posters:
Support Ireland at euro2012, VOTE NO
http://cdn.thejournal.ie/media/2012/...er-630x472.jpg
FAI weren't too pleased about that: http://www.thejournal.ie/fai-unhappy...67921-May2012/
If that's not the Ireland team on the posters lined up facing the tricolour for the anthem, in accordance with custom, who else could it be?Quote:
A spokesperson told TheJournal.ie: “We’re unhappy with the misrepresentation as we haven’t come out for or against the treaty and this gives the impression that we’re against the treaty”.
The spokesperson said that the FAI had not made any attempts to ask Sinn Féin to take the poster down but wanted to make it clear that the party did not ask their permission to use an image of the Irish football team.
A spokesperson for Sinn Féin said the image was of “footballers” and not specifically of the Republic of Ireland soccer team, adding that there had been no communication from the FAI about taking down the posters.
“We haven’t been made a representation of the FAI’s views, but if they issue correspondence we will deal with that at that time,” he added.
Adding in the Barca and Bilbao players I'd guess their starting XI to be:Quote:
Originally Posted by EastTerracer
G Cassilas
DR Sergio Ramos
DC Gerard Pique
DC Raul Albiol
DL Alvao Arbeloa
DM Sergio Busquets
DLP Xabi Alonso
CM Xavi
AM Andres Iniesta
AM David Silva
F Fernando Llorente
Tough to call, they've started Carzola, Fabregas and Jesus Navas at different stages and the form of Pedro may have some bearing on selection.
Italy V Russia on ESPN tonight around 5:30pm I believe. Might be of interest. (Think Tets posted this elsewhere but just in case anyone missed it).
Thanks for the reminder on Italy match!!
Russia 3 - 0 Italy, FT. All goals in the second half. 1st goal was decent play from Russia, 2nd was a botched sliding tackle clearance by the backup Italian goalie which left Russia an open net, and the 3rd was a lazy/sloppy clearance by a defender around the 89' that was headed home. Wouldn't read an awful lot into it, but hardly helps Italian morale on the back of the scandal. I believe this was their last friendly before the tournament.
Wasn't focused enough on the game to give much of a recap. I know Pirlo went off early in the second half as did Buffon.
Was surprised how much Italy were getting forward in the first half. Pirlo dinked a nice ball forward, which was slotted across the 6 yard box and a diving Balotelli just missed putting it away.
Pirlo remains their biggest threat if you ask me. His age doesn't affect his game, he still can unlock a defense at a moment's notice, from nothing.
Was following intermittently myself. Italy were a bit of a joke at the back. Things admittedly went pear-shaped after Buffon was replaced at half-time. Russia's finishing in the first-half was similar to their finishing against us in Moscow. Could have won by more had they not been blazing them over and wide. Cassano missed a great chance, but Russia won deservedly.
Hungary defeated Czech Republic 2-1. Glad to hear that, should make for a good test for us.
It appears that the weakness in the Italian and Croatian teams is their defence. Ironically that is probably where we are strongest. Not in the individuals employed there but more so the unit and sum of the parts. Plus I think our strikeforce, all five of them are as good a crop we have to choose from as any time in the last 30 years. Of course our greatest weakness is midfield and this is the area where I expect Croatia and Italy to dominate us most.
Sometimes Russia looks like they could beat anyone and sometimes they look mediocre at best. I blame Putin.
Norway 1-1 Croatia
Elyounoussi(91) Eduardo(80)
Awaiting a report..... but it won't exactly fill the Irish squad with fear.
Slaven Bilic: "We couldn't have a better warm-up for the opening match against Ireland. Norway are something like Ireland, they're two teams very similar in their style of play and team ability. The match in Oslo will show us where we are a week before our first match. I believe I will get my answers tomorrow. The result is always important and a victory here would bring a better atmosphere and confidence to the team."
What do you guys make of the comparison?
There are similarities, but Norway don't hoof the ball like we do.
As regards the game as a test for Croatia, they didn't use the opportunity, so Bilic saying Croatia 'couldn't have a better warm-up', doesn't cut the mustard.
Of some relevance, Olic came off with a strain and Modric didn't play due to fitness concerns.
I'm getting more and more confident and giddy as we get nearer.
Modric was ill I heard, so unless he's got malaria I suspect he'll be OK.
Not sure where to leave this, so putting it here. Maybe there should be a thread for articles published about the team over the next few weeks..
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2...public-ireland