Irish Team to face Czechs Announced

**paul_oshea** · 12/09/2007, 12:42 PM

You know I was in Italy last week, and I said I was leaving a day early so I could head to slovakia to watch Ireland V Slovakia in football, to which one of the donegal fellas in the group said, "are ye going to czechoslovakia", I responded ya I'm going to slovakia, I had to laugh. But that omen is as good as your one above!!!

**as_i_say** · 12/09/2007, 1:01 PM

yeah count how many times bill o herlihy says czechoslovakia tonight.

**Wolfie** · 12/09/2007, 1:04 PM

Originally Posted by paul_oshea

I think the czechs might suprise us all.

Judging by the tone of the pre-match comment from the Czechs - they are well up for it.

Rosicsky (spelling!!) spoke yesterday about how necessary the win was and how he knew Ireland were in dire need of the win also.

Have major concerns about how Kelly and O'Shea will fare. Kilbane at Left Full and Hunt as a starter is the concensus of how we should be lining up.

I think Hunt is the sort of character who'd thrive in a game like this - fair enough, a poor performance against the Danes - but I think he'd be a far better proposition tonight.

**Donal81** · 12/09/2007, 1:07 PM

Originally Posted by dr_peepee

Harrumph!!!.....

We can do it!!

Andy Reid is gonna be key tonight.. Thing is you can't get ninety good minutes out of him and we've no replacement or alternative available on the bench so I hope he hits the ground running.

This is my main worry. At least against the Slovaks, we had an option of bringing on a creative player like Reid. Stan didn't use the bloody option but at least we had it. If Reid tires or gets injured, then what?

**Ozymandias** · 12/09/2007, 1:12 PM

Originally Posted by Pablo

I think its a reflection of where we stand when Andy Reid is greeted as some sort of saviour

is the correct answer

**Donal81** · 12/09/2007, 1:13 PM

At my most optimistic, we'll get a draw this evening. The sad thing is we have the players to beat this lot. Like us, their campaign has been a bit of a mess with no real direction, drawing with the Welsh and getting beat by the Germans. Dunne and McShane will have no problems whatsoever marking Baros out of it. Doyle and Keane, with Reid in tow, are definitely good enough to score against their defence, while their results suggest that their midfield isn't exactly on fire at the moment. But the problem here is a mental one. We have the players but I'm pretty sure we won't get the result, as a result of a lack of players willing to stand up for once and justify their existence in the squad for the past few years (O'Shea, Kilbane, Reid, McGeady, Keane). If we win tonight, it will go down as one of the truly great Irish victories because, given the conditions surrounding it, the game will be as tough as the Italy game in 1994.