Friendly 11th Sept ROI vs. Oman (Craven Cottage, London)

[Junior]

Appears to be going ahead though nothing confirmed on the FAI Website as yet.

Plenty of talk on it on YBIG and http://www.muscatdaily.com/Archive/S...in-London-1lhz (Though I am not sure how reliable that link is).

If it was 1st April I would have my doubts but 9-11 I dont know what to make of it!!!

[ifk101]

Need to test new players in games if Trapattoni is serious about shaking things up. Could be a good workout for players on the fringes.

[Stuttgart88]

11/9 is a Tuesday...

[paul_oshea]

oman, how many omens will there be?

[Stuttgart88]

Is Ken going to play us by himself?

[SkStu]

This was played a few times when i had FIFA 95/96. Should be very easy with plenty of identical goals from halfway.

I hope we play Qatar too. Similar result and performance expected.

[Sullivinho]

Apart from the goalkeeper Ali-Habiabasi, I don't know much about these fellas, Bill.

[Lionel Ritchie]

This was played a few times when i had FIFA 95/96. Should be very easy with plenty of identical goals from halfway.

I hope we play Qatar too. Similar result and performance expected.

I dunno. I managed Spain on that game and we faced an ignominious exit thanks to them. Newspapers were not kind ..."Spain Rocked by Electric Qatar!"

[DannyInvincible]

Have we ever played Oman before? Peculiar choice of opponent.

[Serb]

They're ranked 96th in the world, four below Bulgaria, one above Georgia and six above Northern Ireland. They're managed by Paul Le Guen, and recent results have seen them lose by two and three goal margins to Australia and Japan.

I don't know if that gives us an idea of relative strength, but it looks like this team should be weak enough, giving us a good opportunity to experiment and hopefully bring back that winning feeling, even if it is in a friendly.

[SwanVsDalton]

I hope we treat it like a B International. With the timing and location, I get the feeling it'll be second string regardless.

[Charlie Darwin]

They're ranked 96th in the world, four below Bulgaria, one above Georgia and six above Northern Ireland. They're managed by Paul Le Guen, and recent results have seen them lose by two and three goal margins to Australia and Japan.

I don't know if that gives us an idea of relative strength, but it looks like this team should be weak enough, giving us a good opportunity to experiment and hopefully bring back that winning feeling, even if it is in a friendly.

Bulgaria have slipped to 92? Mein Gott.

[Crosby87]

Supposedly James McCarthy can't make it, He's washing his hair that day.

[DannyInvincible]

Supposedly James McCarthy can't make it, He's washing his hair that day.

Eh? James is in the squad for the Serbia friendly.

[IsMiseSean]

Eh? James is in the squad for the Serbia friendly.

For the time being... I'm sure Martinez is hatching some plan to get James to stay home as we speak.

[DannyInvincible]

Why the cynicism? He's had a recurring threat of injury in the past and his father was diagnosed with cancer a few months ago. The former was a valid reason to pull out of the friendly games he missed whilst the latter was certainly a valid reason to pull out of the squad for a major finals. There has been no indication whatsoever that James will have any issue with joining up with the squad for the Serbia game. If Trap doubted his commitment, he wouldn't have so much time and respect for the lad. I say, give James a break. He went through a lot of sectarian-related stuff in Scotland after declaring for us and still stuck with us in spite of it. He's now cap-tied to us. He's obviously very proud of his Irish heritage. It's annoying that his commitment continues to come under question and that he actually felt the need to explicitly re-state it in the letter explaining why he was set to miss the Euros as a result of the hysterical cynicism the media and some fans still stir up with regard to his every inclusion and supposedly-impending pulling out.

[Spudulika]

It'll mean extra money for the FAI coffers, so why not.

[Noelys Guitar]

I don't like the omens for our opening match against Kazakhstan. Possibly missing both first choice central defenders and the team coming off the back of a very poor Euros. And this friendly reeks of the old days. It serves no footballing purpose playing Oman with Germany as our October 11th opponents.

[Murfinator]

Why is it abroad? Why can't we use the tallaght stadium or some such for these smaller games or B internationals.

[Colbert Report]

Why is it abroad? Why can't we use the tallaght stadium or some such for these smaller games or B internationals.

All about money. There's a lot more money to be made playing it in England than Tallaght.