No Agreement reach at Irelands Euro2012 fixtures meeting

[DannyInvincible]

So as expected, we're not going to Russia or Armenia in the freezing cold. Meanwhile, Emmet Malone is all upset at going to Skopje in June.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...267096650.html

Was he in Stuttgart '88?? Genoa '90?? Albania '93?? Niigata '02?? Sofia '09?? All occasions we had to play in summer heat, and coped.

You'd swear we were off to Orlando the way he's talking. Then you might have a problem with heat. As we're not, I expect us to play there with little problem dealing with the conditions. Yes Scotland played there last time and lost, but Scotland lost half their games in the group anyway. We're looking to qualify instead.

I don't have a major issue with this, but you keep raising the point that we can cope in heat, which, indeed, I don't doubt. We want to do more than just cope though. Just coping suggests you might be content with scraping a draw over there. If we're to have a serious chance of topping this group, I think we need to be taking six points off Macedonia. That's not necessarily to say that I don't believe we can take six off them, although surely you must agree that playing the game in Spring or Autumn would have been optimal. We are a team of professional players and all that, but maybe it would have made things slightly easier. Not that it matters now though. We just have to make do with the draw we've been given.

[ifk101]

If they are worried about the heat, they have plenty of time before the game to get used to it. I presume most players wouldn't have played competitively for a few weeks prior to the Macedonia game so some sort of training camp should be organised in preparation.

[Spudulika]

Won't the team be at camp in the run up to the June 4th game? Simple, you have 2 weeks at the end of May somewhere warm/hot, and then go to Macedonia. It definitely shouldn't be a problem, but again it's an excuse in advance and will sell a few more newspapers.

[geysir]

Daytime temp in Skopje in early September (time of Scotland game) is about 10C hotter than early June

[Serb]

Daytime temp in Skopje in early September (time of Scotland game) is about 10C hotter than early June

According to Wikipedia, both months are about the same temperature on average:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skopje#Climate

[zenokelly]

If they are worried about the heat, they have plenty of time before the game to get used to it. I presume most players wouldn't have played competitively for a few weeks prior to the Macedonia game so some sort of training camp should be organised in preparation.

Don't forget we'll have 2 fixtures in the Celtic Cup in May.

[Duggie]

best thing about how these worked out is we dont say have russia and slovakia away after each other. we got one at home and one away both times. we need maximum points of all the other teams and get a decent return form thr russia/slovakia games to top this group. we cant drop points against macedonia/armenia/andorra.

[ifk101]

Don't forget we'll have 2 fixtures in the Celtic Cup in May.

Yeah I forgot about that.

Can't say I'd happy about risking players in those fixtures. Macedonia will be a difficult fixture regardless. We certainly can't afford to risk getting players injured in those Celtic Cup games. Maybe we can use the Celtic Cup to showcase the new U21 management team with a few senior squad players thrown in for good measure.

[geysir]

According to Wikipedia, both months are about the same temperature on average:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skopje#Climate

I assume the talk arose because the game was played against Scotland at 3pm.
Let's just say in real comparisons in the last 5 years I looked, Sept 5 has a greater chance of being hotter than June 5th
and in 2008 when that game was played against Scotland (Sept 5), there was a 10C difference between that day and the hottest temp recorded June 5.
Some years the difference is less than 10C and in others the difference is even greater than 10C.

Skopje temps

[jbyrne]

Yeah I forgot about that.

Can't say I'd happy about risking players in those fixtures. Macedonia will be a difficult fixture regardless. We certainly can't afford to risk getting players injured in those Celtic Cup games. Maybe we can use the Celtic Cup to showcase the new U21 management team with a few senior squad players thrown in for good measure.

some of our players could be as much as a month without a game before june 4th. in my opinion the risk of getting injuries to one or two is far more palatable than the whole lot of them going stale before a critical qualifier. only games keep players truly sharp

[mypost]

We've got one point from 6 there before, in Spring and Autumn. Indeed it's almost 13 years to the day since the loss there. Macedonia at home are no pushover, and we may well have to take a point if offered.

Given the chance, the FAI would love to play on Saturday at 3pm. It was the policy for many years to play then at home.

[Kingdom]

You're either deluded or forgetful. They played at 3 pm becuase of floodlight issues, i.e. having none, rather than anything else.

[mypost]

You're either deluded or forgetful. They played at 3 pm becuase of floodlight issues, i.e. having none, rather than anything else.

I'm neither.

We've had access to lights at home games since 1994. Until recently, the policy was to play every weekend (Saturday) home game at 3.00, whatever the circumstances.

[Crosby87]

Didnt they used to line up cars and tell them to put their lights on the pitch when they wanted a night game? I seem to remember that from my first trip to the motherland, circa 1992.

[Declanus]

At least we won't have the ogange jerseys in Macedonia this time. Does the FAI have the option of negotiating with any of the countries to change the fixtures to a Saturday.

[eaststand85]

No, e-mailed the ticket office last week and they confirmed that the dates will stay as per the draw.