Possible Friendlies for Ireland

yes before anyone goes on a rant - i know a lot of people are dubious about their value but its the only time we will see some of these young fellas

i know we play holland nxt august

I suppose we owe some countries a game for previous games like Holland mentioned? Probablt get one or two games against South American or Asian teams as they prepare for World Cup?

i think we should only play teams who got to world cup
i am sure brazil,argentina could be on the cards as they will want some games in europe before the world cup

Will all the friendlies be away I wonder since Lansdowne is getting revamped?
I wouldnt mind another trip to The Dam to face the Dutch

when is landowne closing again?

I dunno, I'd say we owe a lot of countries for the amount of times we've played friendlies at Lansdowne. It could be a few months of hardcore travelling for Irish fans. Either that or the Irish team had better get used to playing in front of small crowds away from home.

The only chance of playing at lansdowne will be against the South Americans. Any European teams will all want to be playing their friendlies at home.

el select XI v Rep. of Ireland
We'd knock the bóllix out of the National team!

i am sure the likes of the ukraine and croatia would come
no offense - but lots of teams wouldnt fancy going there for friendlies

well if they are awy try and get them against decent (ish) teams - ie germany
spain, sweden

Originally Posted by Kingdom

I dunno, I'd say we owe a lot of countries for the amount of times we've played friendlies at Lansdowne.

We don't owe anyone anything. We pay teams to come here and play us.

Italy away would be......nice

Originally Posted by Peadar

We don't owe anyone anything. We pay teams to come here and play us.

Thats fair enough. I knew the Brazilians and the Italians had been paid but I'm surprised to hear its a wholesale thing.
I would still be surprised if we continued to play the vast majority of our friendlies at home ove the next couple of years.

Originally Posted by Peadar

el select XI v Rep. of Ireland
We'd knock the bóllix out of the National team!

Sounds like one long ball hoof fest to me.

Originally Posted by Dublin12

Sounds like one long ball hoof fest to me.

Yeah as if junior ball is not.........

Peadar there is an unwritten rule that when you host a team in a friendly then they, at some point, will host you later on e.g. Finland at home in November 2000 and away in August 2002 (great trip btw!), Greece home in April 2000 and away November 2002, the Czechs and Scots as well.

So hopefully a few away friendlies as Lansdowne will be out of commission in a years time. We owe Sweden, Croatia, Russia, Denmark, Turkey, Romanai, Bulgaria and Portugal!!

Also any team that draws england in the WC will want to play us in a friendly beforehand.


KOH

Originally Posted by Dublin12

Sounds like one long ball hoof fest to me.

It would since you probably don't ever see the cream of the eL in action.
At least our players are honest and committed.

Originally Posted by Peadar

It would since you probably don't ever see the cream of the eL in action.
At least our players are honest and committed.

I've seen enough and with that shambles last night I'm sure Jack Charlton would be spinning in his waders at the thought,mind you my local pub team could've beat that excuse last night but you're right with honesty and commitment you can't go far wrong.

Originally Posted by concanta

yes before anyone goes on a rant - i know a lot of people are dubious about their value but its the only time we will see some of these young fellas

i know we play holland nxt august

We play Holland before the WC. Will be one of the last games in the old Lansdowne.

FIFA have set aside the following dates for friendlys

28th February or 1st March
16th August

and then the following dates for euro qualifyiers

2nd and 6th September
7th and 11th October

guess depending on who we are drawn against and how the fixtures are worked out could mean that there are additional friendlys in september and/or october.

oh and by the way the fai paid about 750k to play brazil

Originally Posted by Jon'o

oh and by the way the fai paid about 750k to play brazil

By the sound of a lot of foot.ie users at the time, one would have thought that the political hack that was Fran Rooney paid the 750k out of his own pocket.

Any suggestions as to who would be good for friendlies now .... will be a good few options now of teams looking to warm up for the World Cup (seeing as they are now going) and will be looking for a sparing partner.

I can remember we played Canada (i think) before Euro 2004 and they gave us a real good game.

Might be an idea to bring in a few players now and put together a good team of some of the suggested new kids !!

That's one of the worst things about not qualifying for the WC, is all the teams coming over will be calling us up wanting a bit of pre-tournament practice. It really rubs salt in the wounds.

I suppose we'll probably see some decent likes Argentina, Mexico etc, but it's a bit like being a fluff girl at a porn shoot.