World Cup 2018 - Qualification

#1122

You would presume there will be a few retirements with the likes of Holohan, O Shea, Whelan, possibly Ward , Waters and Murphy (a number of players give up international football at their age to prolong their club career). A friendly to see them all off would be a nice touch. What have we got to replace them with what is there already?

If they are playing regularly then id like to see the likes of Horgan, Maguire, Matt Doherty, Hogan and O Kane given a fair crack of the whip. I know they are all championship players but our premier league players arenā€™t exactly shit hot. We need to pull a goalscorer from somewhere. But I cannot see MON being the man to give these lads a go.

For me the only guaranteed starters for the Euro Qualifying would be Randolf, Coleman, Duffy and Arter. I will get slated over Arter but he is the best ball playing midfielder we have

Bring back Stephen Ireland and beg Jack Grealish too :smiley:

#1123

Most of the FAI money comes from income from the international team, so sponsors, and most importantly TV money which is now centralised and we get a lot arse of it. Although I have no time for him, Delaney is very good at the politics, and has got himself well in with FIFA and UEFA. He was also well in with the IOC till that house of cards collapsed after rio.

#1124

The LOI still suffers from the garrison game slur, which is a pity. The teams have a very loyal but small fan base. Itā€™s not possible to get new teams going on a long term basis, there is a lot of rivalry from junior soccer as well.

The FAI are doing, slowly, some good things in the new underage national leagues which will help the LOI and hopefully help the national team.

As a radical idea Iā€™d let the over 30 year olds in the team take the friendlies off and see how the fringe lads do till September and the Euro 2020 qualification starts.

#1125

No half harsh enough. He allowed himself to be sucked off the post into no manā€™s land. Had he done his job and stayed where he was meant to he would have comfortably cleared that ball.

#1126

Itā€™s not just Ireland that is not producing quality players any more , look at some of the teams who wonā€™t be there next year , Chile ,USA ,italy , Holland , Scotland.
We are a small sporting country that also had rugby and GAA competing for playing numbers that reduces the number of soccer players even further .
Could be a long time as well before we quality for anything again ,alot of that squad are on the wrong side of 30 .

#1127

Ah now Judy thatā€™s harsh! You only stay on the post for a direct corner delivery. This was a couple of passes, a nutmeg and a dribbly run later, no way should he be still stuck to the post by that time. Thatā€™s not condoning the fact that he should have dealt with it better.

#1128

Every cloud ā€¦ :smirk:

But Scotland?! ā€¦

#1129

When you look at the players Scotland were producing , souness ,dalglish ,bremmner ,Hansen , ā€¦they all were winning leagues and European cups with their clubs .I would struggle to name 4/5 Scottish players now playing for prem teams

#1130
#1131

Imo on that one, you either stay on the post until itā€™s cleared totally, or once the ball isnā€™t crossed direct you get straight off it and into an area where you can defend the cross. He did neither, ended up in no mans land and then made a total balls of trying to clear it.

#1132

Maybe a little harsh alright. Iā€™d need to look at it again to be honest. Iā€™ve been avoiding watching any of it back. My initial reaction was that he should have been in a better position to make the clearance.

#1133

Canā€™t believe not one person has said ā€œstartled earwigsā€ :rofl:.

#1134

They were more like startled feckin cow shite

#1135

You and 6 million others! :smile:

#1136

Our big problem is we seem to have a bunch of the thickest footballers in Europe. If the wrong option is there they ll take it . Passing the ball is not the problem but the lack of intelligent movement is. McClean is a folk hero to the fans but I d be happy never to see his headless chicken act again.

#1137

But theyā€™re not like that for their clubs.

#1138

Iā€™ve kind of given up on soccer but my mates have season tickets and Iā€™ll jump on the bandwagon if Iā€™m offered a ticket. Went to France last year and a few big games in the qualifiers. Not the type of fan any seasoned supporter would rightly give a second to. Iā€™m not sure a garisson slur is evident but tens of thousands were in France and the big Aviva games.

Itā€™s clear enough a large portion of that potential revenue pile treat the LoI with indifference and lump their cash and time into English teams. At a time English football has utterly changed the home leagues become more important.

Blame the FAI, blame modernisation and health and safely for killing street football. But in the main donā€™t forget to blame your average avid irish soccer fan either.

#1139

Finally, someone said itā€¦
There was a stage in the first half where McClean spent so much energy running round after a lost cause that when Ireland won the ball back, he was gassed for about 3 minutes and couldnā€™t make a run. Then completely bollocked the midfielder who (correctly) expected him to make a run, leading to us losing the ball. Headless is right!!

When would you ever see a forward player (he seemed to be playing off Murphy in the first half) from a decent team doing that? Especially on his own. Waste of energy, unless you are all doing it (ala the early iterations of the current Barca team)

#1140

I had to attend a meeting last night (had skipped the last two so had to go) and mentioned the match. It may as well have been Russia and Ukraine involved.

I remember the same when I was secretly listening into the Scotland Ireland match a few years ago at an event I was roped into. Didnā€™t even know it was on.

Same last year during the euros, virtually no flags, bunting, wouldnā€™t know we were in it.

#1141

Do you think itā€™s like that where most of the population in Ireland lives?