He says in the piece that the Wednesday or Thursday before hand could see us play a friendly to be better prepared, He mentions the delay with the Portugal and Costa Rica games is on going and close to official
Possible friendly being looked at for early September date.
http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/s...wn-265675.html
“We bid for Euro 2008 with Scotland but that wasn’t realistic because we had no stadiums,” he recalled. “They the (Uefa inspectors) were brought out to Abbotstown and shown an empty field and brought to Croke Park who hadn’t made a decision to open it to soccer. This realistically is our best opportunity. To play four games here, three group games and a last 16, would be brilliant. It would raise the profile of the game. To be in it, would be the dream.”
Only in Ireland.
As part of my coursework for a postgrad degree a few years back I profiled the FAI's successful bid for the 2011 Europa League final. I rang the FAI for help. They said they were busy with staging the home leg of the France game at Croker but once that was out of the way they said I could come over to Abbotstown and they'd show me all the paperwork and talk me through everything. Say what you like about the FAI but in this instance they were hugely cooperative and very impressive. The bid 10 years earlier was a shambles but the second bid was very thorough. Larry Mullen and George Hamilton played big roles, funnily enough.
exactly how many countries bid for these things with all / even most stadiums ready?Originally Posted by TheOneWhoKnocks
sure qatar just showed FIFA an empty desert and won the 2022 wc
Only in Ireland. And Qatar. And Brazil. And...
In fairness, the Brendan Menton era FAI bid was utterly shambolic.
I'd say there's a wild difference between a FIFA bid inspectorate and a UEFA bid inspectorate.
Who do folk here think are likely fringe candidates to be called up for the May / June games? Or, put another way, who should be called up?
Is Alan Judge seriously under consideration? Rob Kiernan?
Discuss...
Eunan O'Kane, Shane Duffy, Joe Mason and maybe Leon Best.
Can't think of anyone else realistically as Chris McCann is injured.
Jack Grealish - all day long and Ronin Murray (is he worth a look ?) - Notts county
Sean Murray Watford - Lewis Shay Mcgugan Watford ( he is eligible ) having a great season by all accounts
thoughts on a post card TOWK
Richie Ryan from Tipperary has been appointed first ever Captain of Ottawa Fury, which is SKStu's new favorite team in Canada. Sources tell me he may be in the squad as rabid Fury fans will make their way down here.
Selcuk Tidim has an absolutely enormous following in Queens for some reason and I think you could see him.
Ger Crossley is doing a book signing outside Met Life Stadium if anyone is interested. "Gentleman Ger: My Years in Green." ($29.95, Knopf)
Last edited by Crosby87; 23/04/2014 at 12:47 PM.
No Somos muchos pero estamos locos.
Youngsters I would like to see more of are Jack Grealish, Shane Duffy, Samir Carruthers, Tommie Hoban, Sean Murray, Eunan O'Kane, Joe Mason, Rob Kiernan & Jeff Hendrick. Shane O'Neill, Mike Magee, Ryan Meara should get a chance on the US Tour. Hope to see some granny rulers there.
"We lost because we didn't win"- Ronaldo
Darron Gibson, if he can prove his fitness
Owen Garvan, or Callum Reilly maybe?
Shaun Williams has settled in well at Millwall
Liam Lawrence?
Stokes is on a scoring streak - five goals in his last five games
Could look at Aaron Doran or Willo Flood too.
Carruthers is still out with a knee injury, one for next season I think
You mean the aforementioned or other ones? Because I'm not sure if they are many others out there. McGoldrick would probably have been the one knocking on doors but he is out of contention. Then there is Richard Stearman. Maybe Luke Chambers. There were rumours about Scott Hogan recently but he's still playing in L2. Then there are the Gerrard's and McGugan's. Nobody knows if they are eligible (even themselves). There were apocryphal stories about McGugan declaring for Scotland as well that had little basis in fact.
I don't understand the desire to call up Granny Rulers for the sake of it. If there is someone like Pilkington playing at a good level who may be an improvement on what we already have then go for it. If they aren't an improvement on what we have, then what's the point?
On the other hand, if you are on about young lads who've played at underage level like Grealish, Murray, Carruthers, Kiernan and Hoban getting some experience that's different but two of them have played a dozen games between them this season, Murray has flitted in and out of the team at Watford without making much of an impact, Carruthers has been inconsistent at MK Dons and Grealish still only has 30 games worth of experience in a L1 relegation battle. Current reports indicate that he is destined for the Championship next season. If he adjusts to that level of football, then he has the majority of the Qualifying campaign to be in contention for.
Thats a good call
Of Tets' suggestions I'd be inclined only to look at Stokes and Gibson, though I admit I haven't seen Flood this season.
TOWK's 4 plus Grealish and Sean Murray as suggested by Dunners all have a realistic claim I'd say. I also think Kiernan may be worth a look.
Would Chris Forrester be a useful call up for the Turkey game? Not because of his wonder goal but because he's playing well and although there'd be an element of tokenism about it, it wouldn't be unwarranted and it'd be a good message to send out. I saw him against Bohs on Good Friday and he definitely has an assuredness and bit of style about him.
Is Westwood back fit I wonder? Randolph's club form fills me with dread.
This is from April 3rd:
http://www.herald.ie/sport/soccer/we...-30152714.html
No Somos muchos pero estamos locos.
The problem with thinking about fringe players right now is that we have a lot of players who would be expected to play a significant role in the upcoming qualifiers who for various reasons (injury, managerial falling-outs, being a late bloomer, etc) but don't have a lot of caps under their belts and need the game time. All these players have fewer than 20 caps: Forde (17 caps), Westwood (19), Wilson (15), Clark (10), Delaney (8), McClean (19), Hoolahan (10), Meyler (5), Murphy (9), Stokes (8), O'Brien (5), Brady (6), Hendrick (4), Ireland (6).
On top of that, Andy Reid could do with more games to get re-accustomed to the international scene, perhaps Shane Long could do with more time leading the line and Kevin Doyle might be back in contention.
And then we have to judge which of the rising young stars (Duffy, Grealish and Murray) may have a breakthrough next season
Where did Keith Treacy go to? I thought he was great in the few friendlies he played for us during Trap's reign.
Then he disappeared
Folding my way into the big money!!!
He's usually a sub for promoted Burnley. I thought he had a great delivery with his left, but lacks finesse otherwise. Quite a strong, direct wide player. I think TOWK said his contract is up and is unlikely to be renewed?
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