Ireland vs Estonia (1st Leg) - Match Thread

[tommy_c12000]

But I don't suppose Ken Early gave some context

According to Daniel McDonnell, Trap was answering a question on his future.

[tommy_c12000]

I have my suspicions that Manuela is winding us up half the time. I'd say she's an awful rascal

[BonnieShels]

I have my suspicions that Manuela is winding us up half the time. I'd say she's an awful rascal

I bet she is. The glint in her eye. PHWOAR!

[Charlie Darwin]

The panel last night were miserly in their appraisal of McGeady's cross to Andrews. Sure Andrews met the ball perfectly and did all the work to turn the chance into a goal, but McGeady's lob to his head, over two covering players, was as good as could be done in the circumstances, by even the most skillful player.

I couldn't believe their reaction. It wasn't the most amazing cross in the history of football but technically it was so good. The trajectory of the ball was ridiculous - it's the kind of cross Xavi or Iniesta routinely put in but the panel gave it nothing. If it was Fabregas, Brady - Liam Brady of all people! - would have been raving.

(I know the "if it had been X player" argument is awful but I think it's justified here)

Despite the flurry, the affair swiftly acquired another tenor, that of an English-style game --more championship than Premier League, of course.

Go watch your beloved Premier League then, when it costs upwards of £100mm just to put a team on the pitch and talent can be bought from almost anywhere in the world. Of course.

This was the best part. If he ever actually watched the Championship instead of just the Sky league, he'd know that they generally play the ball on the ground far more than the teams in the Premier League.

[geysir]

Robbie was quoted in an Estonian papers as saying post match "We are confident, but we are professionals and we know that anything can happen. 4:0 is a good result but we still have a game on Tuesday"

One fan commented
"What the hell? professional? anything can happen!??
We have to play without captain Piirojata, and the senior goalkeeper Stepanovita. We need to score at least 4 goals away.
We are professionals and we say that you have the cat in the bag"

[BonnieShels]

Will we see similar scenes on Tuesday night on the Walkinstown roundabout?

[Charlie Darwin]

Will we see similar scenes on Tuesday night on the Walkinstown roundabout?

I guess this just proves the old adage: put a camera in front of an Irishman anywhere in the world and he'll start jumping around singing "Ole ole ole" and disrupting traffic.

[Kingdom]

To be fair, the Walkinstown roundabout was like that most summers with/without Italia 90. We were just mad *******s out that way!

[Sullivinho]

Will we see similar scenes on Tuesday night on the Walkinstown roundabout?

...

Rare footage of the jubilant scenes in Cork on the same day:




Roll on tuesday.

[Plastic Paddy]

I'm still getting over seeing Sullivinho in less-than-totally-cynical mode. A shock to the system, to be sure...

PP

[SwanVsDalton]

Checking in for the first time here since Friday afternoon. The last 24 hours have been......interesting. And lubricated.

To repeat - couldn't possibly have foreseen a result like that. The Estonians were silly and naive but our ruthlessness was impressive. Andrews excellent, Walters great, Keane - a leader.

Trap's post-match interview hopefully a telling riposte for anyone still under the impression he rather be sunning himself poolside in Umbria instead of watching Wes Hoolahan/Andy Reid/some game.

We deserved the result and we deserve to go to the finals. Cannot wait for Tuesday's party in the Aviva.

Well done the lads. Chickens or no, Polkraine here we come.

[DannyInvincible]

Is the game on RTÉ Player? I can't seem to find it. Maybe due to my location?

[Supreme feet]

I'd say it's about location. I'm dying to watch it again. Anyone know if I could download it anywhere?

[DannyInvincible]

RTÉ's pre-match analysis:


RTÉ's half-time analysis:


RTÉ's post-match analysis:

[backstothewall]

If a understand things correctly Kelly, Sledge, Whelan and McGeady are all on a booking. If they pick up a booking on Tuesday does that get them a suspension for the first game in the finals (assuming we qualify)?

[dr_peepee]

They used to be wiped clean for the tournament... That's why i was surprised regarding the Craic with Rooney. Maybe not applying to sending offs?? I don't know to be honest... If i remember correctly it wasn't written in stone, but after qualifying there would be a meeting of the governing body followed by an announcement that cards wouldn't be carried.

[legendz]

Generally bookings of yellows picked up in different games don't carry over. If a player gets sent off in the last game, that's usually the only suspensions that carry over. Brady had that problem once. Rooney has that situation now but the UK's southern national team, if a provincial team can be such a thing, are going to still take him on the hope they get through.

Has there been any word on seedings for the Euro 2012 draw for countries lucky to make it. If we seal the deal on Tuesday as we should, any chance of being in the third pot? Having been seeded for the play-offs we surely can't be far off it? Winning on Tuesday should be important regards rankings unless last month is used because play-off teams could be getting a bit of an advantage with ranking points.

[geysir]

It's a rule that yellow cards don't carry over from the Qualifiers to the Finals, even if that player is due to be suspended because of accumulation of yellow cards.

But a suspension from a red card offense is carried over to the Finals.

[legendz]

Going by what I read in wiki. As was the case at the 2004 and 2008 finals, the sixteen finalists will be divided into four seeding pots, ranked by their UEFA coefficient.


A preliminary UEFA Euro 2012 ranking has been calculated according to the scheme above, to show the current ranking, before the remaining Euro 2012 qualifiers are played.


http://www.uefa.com/MultimediaFiles/...2_DOWNLOAD.pdf


Going by that pdf above, could be looking at:


Pot 1:
Spain - Holland - Ukraine - Poland
Pot 2:
Germany - Italy - England - Russia
Pot 3:
Croatia* - Greece - Sweden - Denmark
Pot 4:
Portugal* - France - Ireland* - Czech Republic*


* Not yet qualified. Need to avoid a Devon Loch disaster.


As long as we seal the deal, we'll be ranked higher than the co-hosts so drawing one of them would be ideal. We won't get France. Germany and Sweden, both of whom we'll face on the road to Brazil, could both be drawn against us. Spain, England and Italy as draws would obviously be huge games. England goes without saying. We've some history in our few major tournaments with Italy. Our last game in a major finals was against Spain when they beat us on penalties. Should we seal the deal, the opening game for pot 4 teams is against the team from pot 3. We'd be looking at an opener against Croatia*, Greece, Sweden or Denmark. A game against Germany, Italy, England or Russia will follow. The last game then will be Spain, Holland, Ukraine or Poland.


Best and worse draw are debatable. I'd say the easiest draw on paper would be Poland, Russia and Denmark. The toughest then would be Spain, Germany and Croatia. Interesting draws would come between Spain/Holland, Germany/Italy/England and Sweden.


Now let's just avoid a Devon Loch.

[Mad Moose]

Is the game on RTÉ Player? I can't seem to find it. Maybe due to my location?

Its your location I'm afraid. I wouldn't mind seeing it again to be honest. I once messed about by trying to taky on a .ie proxy but failed miserably.