Morning all from the wettest place on earth, and I include the bottom of the sea in that.
The weather may suit the mood here in Ireland today after last night's dismal showing in Euro
2012. I don't think anybody had any realistic expectation of a result against Spain – perhaps we
might have scraped a draw – but I don't think it was unrealistic to expect them to play like
professional footballers instead of last-pick in the schoolyard 'shit, we've got no players and
we've only got 7 men.
Set pieces ruled in this match. The Croatians were far better at it with Mario Mandžukić
scoring from a brace of headers and Le Homme Nikica pouncing on a ball the Ireland defenders failed
to clear. Terrible defending all around by the men in green.
Spain should breeze through Group C according to Geoff Reid. (Getty Images)
By Geoff Reid
Group C Spain
The last nation to go into a major tournament as defending World and European champions was France
in 2002. The outcome was not very kind to that French side after they finished last in their group
in South Korea.
Simon Cox will start in attack alongside Kevin Doyle for Ireland in tomorrow's vital Euro
2012 qualifier with Armenia in the Aviva Stadium. It was widely expected that in-form West Brom
striker Shane Long would partner doyle, in the event of Robbie Keane failing his fitness
battle.
Stephen Kelly comes in for the suspended Stephen Ward.
Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni has named his team for Friday's Euro 2012 Group 2 qualifier
with Andorra.
John O'Shea replaces Stephen Kelly with Sean St Ledger coming in for the suspended Richard Dunne
from Ireland's last game in Russia.
Trapattoni has resisted the temptation to bring Keith Fahey into the midfield after he hinted at
using the Birmingham midfielder in training earlier this week.
Irish boss Giovanni Trapattoni says winger Aiden McGeady is "100 per cent" and ready to
play in the Euro 2012 qualifiers against Slovakia and Russia. The Spartak midfielder played three
minutes of the Moscow derby on Sunday after missing much of the summer with an ankle injury
sustained on June 10th, but met up with the Ireland squad at the first opportunity this morning and
trained in Malahide.
Villa Park outfit would very much like to go on spending spree this summer but will Mr. Lerner
open his hefty wallet?
Win the Club Shirt Of Your Choice Simply by Speaking Your Mind!
MARTIN O'NEILL wants to pack FOUR Irishmen into his luxury Villa this summer with Robbie
Keane, Kevin Doyle, Aidan McGeady and Stephen Ireland ALL on his hit-list.
Robbie Keane has been voted the Celtic fans' player of the year despite having been at the
club only two-and-a-half months.
The 29-year-old striker joined the Scottish giants on loan from Tottenham just hours before the
transfer window closed at the start of February amid huge fanfare at Parkhead.
Saturday's demoralizing one-nil home loss to France in the first leg of their World
Cup play-off sees the Republic of Ireland facing an uphill task to reach next summer's
showpiece. As French fans start booking their flights to South Africa, the Irish faithful are left
praying for a miracle.
Of the European World Cup play-offs I would argue that the Republic of Ireland's fixture against
France is the pick of the ties. The Irish have shown a great battling spirit in their
qualification campaign so far, drawing twice with Italy and narrowly missing out on defeating the
Italians particular highlights.
Ireland winger Aiden McGeady scored an injury-time winner from the penalty spot as Spartak
Moscow edged past Rostov 2-1 in the Premier Liga clash at the Luzhniki Stadium.
The home side had gone behind to Anri Khagush's 24th-minute strike. However, Welliton equalised
shortly before the break when McGeady got past two Rostov defenders to send over a cross for
Welliton to head home just before half time, and when referee Alexander Gvardis pointed to the spot
in the dying seconds, McGeady kept his cool to convert his second goal for Spartak since his nine
and a half million pound move from Celtic.
Celtic winger Aiden McGeady looks set to call it a day on his Celtic career in what will be
a major blow to new Hoops manager Neil Lennon.
According to a report in yesterday's Sunday Mail the Ireland winger has made up his mind to leave
Parkhead, with the only consolation for Celtic being that they can expect to bank around £9m for
their man.
Damien Duff has been ruled out of Ireland's World Cup qualifiers against Bulgaria and Italy
with a hamstring injury.
Thursday evening's shock news was a big blow to Ireland boss Giovanni Trapatonni before the
important group 8 games against Bulgaria and Italy.
There had been no suggestion of any problem with Duff's fitness and Aiden McGeady remains a fitness
doubt because of a foot injury, but goalkeeper Shay Given will be fit.
"Is it a dive? Never in a million years. A dive is when you try to influence the referee, you throw
your arms up and so on."The quote above is what Tony Mowbray said following Aidan McGeady's yellow
card for diving yesterday. I have a degree of sympathy with McGeady, we have seen in the past few
days just how randomly the media can react to extremely similar incidents.
This morning, Tony Mowbray looked out of his window, saw the clouds and the threat of rain, and
though "a bit of rain will help our game tonight". He made his breakfast, ate it, enjoyed it, and
began the journey to the Lennoxtown training centre in a buoyant, if not overly-confident mood.
But, somewhere along the way, he must have ran over a black cat.
Ok, naf title, but we have drawn the ‘Bhoys' in The Champions League qualifier, first leg is
the 18th August across the border in sunny Scotland – in The Emirates Cup we swept aside Rangers,
the current champions of Scotland with some ease, so on paper we should be able to do the same with
Celtic.
According to the London Times, Tony Mowbray will be installed as the new manager of Glasgow Celtic.
He leaves behind a relegated West Bromwich Albion, but this is a good move for both Celtic and
Mowbray. Tony did a great job getting WBA promoted in the first place. He also didn't receive a lot
of financial support to buy new players once the team were promoted.
Jogaram em Dublin, no estádio Croke Park, para um público de 70.640 pessoas, as seleções do
Eire (34º no ranking da FIFA) e Itália (4º do ranking da FIFA).
Antes desse jogo, as 2 seleções jogaram: Copas do Mundo
1994
New York/New Jersey
18/06/1994
ITA
0:1 (0:1)
IRL
Group matches
1990
Rome
30/06/1990
ITA
1:0 (1:0)
IRL
Quarter-finals
Eliminatórias Copa do Mundo
2010
Bari
01/04/2009
ITA
1:1 (1:0)
IRL
First stage
Eliminatórias Eurocopa
1972
Dublin
10/05/1971
IRL
1:2 (1:1)
ITA
Preliminary round
1972
Florence
08/12/1970
ITA
3:0 (2:0)
IRL
Preliminary round
Amistosos
2005
Dublin
17/08/2005
IRL
1:2 (1:2)
ITA
1992
Foxboro
04/06/1992
IRL
0:2 (0:1)
ITA
1985
Dublin
05/02/1985
IRL
1:2 (0:2)
ITA
1926
Turin
21/03/1926
ITA
3:0 (3:0)
IRL
O quarteto de arbitragem foi assim definido:
Referee: Terje HAUGE (NOR)
Assistant Referee 1: Steinar HOLVIK (NOR)
Assistant Referee 2: Frank ANDAS (NOR)
Fourth official: Espen BERNTSEN (NOR),
Aos 8 minutos do primeiro tempo, 6 Glenn WHELAN abriu o placar para a seleção da Irlanda.
