Considering the circumstances he was in I think McCarthy did really well the 2nd time around, within about 2 games he already managed to created a settled enough side and made us competitive in a tricky group. I keep thinking imagine if he was hired after the 2018 WC play off and got a whole year to mould a team rather than being thrown straight into the fire how things might have gone, we'd also have probably done better in the NL which would have meant we were at home in the play off instead of away.Originally Posted by Jolly Red Giant
What I would give for someone like Mick McCarthy now, someone with a little bit of nouse at this level.
Steve Clarke might soon be available !
That's an interesting take on Mick McCarthy but it's a big call. His second stint in charge wasn't pretty, but the fighting display against excellent Denmark almost qualified us. I believe we would have qualified anyway had he remained manager for the play-off.
But 2002 was McCarthy prime time. The making of the man, he was brilliant. Ireland were KO'd by the catastrophic missing of penalties - and not a trumped-up player-count incident.
McCarthy also drew inspired performances from Robbie Keane, Duff, Quinn, Holland and others. And all despite the disruption, chaos and embarrassment caused by a gutless captain. Had Roy Keane chose to play for his country, it's not unrealistic to suggest Ireland could have reached the World Cup final.
Anois teacht an Earraigh / Beidh an lá dúl chun shíneadh,
Is tar eis na féil Bríde / Ardóigh mé mo sheol.
Well said. His second stint, though, was telling in so far as how little his coaching ability had evolved as the game itself had.
Except for Brazil and Turkey ~ ~ That was a pretty poor World Cup for quality teams ~ ~ Certainly a possibility that the Republic of Ireland could have got to a semi-final with some good fortune.
After Spain (who beat us on penalties of course, having played us off the park for the first hour and then the opposite for the second hour) it would have been South Korea (dodgy home decisions aplenty of course, but as quarter-final opposition goes, it's about as winnable as you could get) and then in the semis a Germany side we'd already deservedly drawn with earlier in the same competition.
Imagine if that Jason McAteer ad had come true?
I'm fairly certain Korea would have beaten us if we had won that shootout against Spain. After all they beat Spain, Portugal and Italy in that World Cup, so what makes people think they wouldn't have beaten us? They had been together for months before the tournament under Hiddink, so were a much more cohesive side than most international teams. And they were getting pretty much every decision going, not just the 50/50s. And they were playing at home obviously. It would have been great to reach the quarter finals again, but they'd have beaten us.
I found McCarthy frustrating in his second term, his football philosophy had really regressed over the years and that was evident in his club jobs in recent years as well. A simple game plan is probably a good idea for an international team alright, but his had become too simple. It was the correct call to move on from him, we just moved on to completely the wrong person, which maybe makes Mick 2.0 look better in hindsight than it was.
Keane O'Shea Given Best Smallbone
Off point, but I'm going to make it. we have better players than Albania. It makes it harder us not being there
Started a tournament thread in World Football for those who'd like to chat about it. I think we could all do with talking about anything other than this thread for a bit or until something real happens, for our own psychological wellbeing.
Stephen Kenny Saviour, Leader, Winner, An Autobiography - In All Good Bookstores Now
They possibly would have, but we were a very difficult team to beat ourselves, as Portugal, Germany, Spain and Holland had found out. Granted we rode our luck a bit in some of those games, but still.
We might still have lost, but there's no-one I think can look at a World Cup quarter-final tie against South Korea and not see it as a great chance to make the semis
Also korea had more than luck v Spain and Italy
Paul Rowan in the Times today speculating about Carsley. A big long piece which contained little aside from Carsley being at England 20s game v Ireland 21s, Carsley being an England scout at Euros and... Emmm... FAI reps being at the Euros.
Basically he says FAI shouldn't close the door on Carsley (not that they haven't) and speculates as to whether Hill's departure is a help.
A lot of column inches for very little in this piece. Good man , Paul.
The FAI reps could also be at the Euros for Sagnol or meeting his representatives.
They also might just love wienerschnitzel
We may never know.
German beer is very good !
If we had beaten Spain, I would have fancied us. I don't disagree that if gigantic nations like Spain and Italy were ****ed over, they would get even more decisions against little old Ireland, but we would have been on the crest of a wave. Put it like this, we were a better team than them. That's not to disagree that they would have had huge advantages that we would have had to navigate.
I think the Germans would have beaten us in the semis. I think the exuberance mixed with exhaustion may have been too much against them. It was a relatively mediocre German team with two exceptional players in Kahn and Ballack, but it's still Germany and they know how to navigate semis.
I guess we'll never know.
Wienerschnitzel is Austrian dude.
The germans and austrians all have a good claim to it... The recipe first appeared as eingebroeselte Kalbsschnitzchen (breaded veal cutlets) in Die Sueddeutsche Kueche (South German Cooking), written by an Austrian, but she was describing Baverian and Swabian cuisine from the era...
If you spend any time in Baveria, you'll find the schnitzels are as good as across the border...
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