Wigan Athletic midfielder James McCarthy has been threatened with violence by Republic of Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni if he cannot shake off his shyness. Trapattoni wants the former Hamilton youngster to come out of his shell and make his presence felt on the international stage. And if he doesn't, his national team manager will punch [.
The Vancouver Whitecaps might have one of the better defenses in MLS, but that has not stopped
head coach Martin Rennie from further strengthening that part of his team.
The Whitecaps announced Wednesday that they have signed veteran centerback Andy O'Brien, who has
spent the last decade-and-a-half playing in England.
So, then, to Kiev and to the quarter-finals of the European Championships. It's the final match
of the round this evening, featuring an Italian side that is something of a curates egg, excellent
against Spain in matching them every inch of the way before being slightly underwhelming against
Croatia and The Republic of Ireland, whilst England remain somewhat enigmatic, decent enough in
fits and starts but also a little lucky in places and, for fifteen minutes against Sweden nine days
ago, almost apocalyptically disorganised.
Ireland defender Marc Wilson is hoping his Stoke City return will give him a chance to join Ireland's battle for a World cup place in Brazil in 2014.The 25-year-old County Armagh born defender expects to be available for Stoke's game at Fulham next Saturday after four months out with a broken leg.
Giovanni Trapattoni has named his Ireland squad for the Poland international friendly on 6 February at the Aviva Stadium, their last game ahead of the crucial double-header away to Sweden and home to Austria on 22 and 26 March.
New faces include Anthony Pilkington as well as Derby County trio Conor Sammon, Jeff Hendrick and Richard Keogh.
Robbie Keane, Marc Wilson and Robbie Brady will start for Ireland when they take on the Faroe Islands in their World Cup 2014 qualification game on Tuesday evening in Tórshavn.
Under-pressure manager Giovanni Trapittoni is facing growing pressure from supporters, former players and the media after a dismal defeat to Germany last week and his player selection.
Ireland U17's secured an impressive 4-1 victory over hosts Macedonia in the second game of their UEFA Championships qualifying group in Skopje today.
Tom Mohan's side produced a disciplined and composed performance to move top of Group Ten on goal difference ahead of Sweden, who beat Romania 2-1 in the other game in the group.
Giovanni Trapattoni has announced his squad for the upcoming friendly against Serbia.
Skipper Robbie Keane, keeper Shay Given, central defender Richard Dunne and midfielder Stephen Hunt
have been left out of the squad for next month's friendly clash with Serbia in Belgrade.
Stoke's Marc Wilson, Everton's Seamus Coleman and Wigan midfielder James McCarthy all come into the
squad.
Ireland international James McClean is already focused on Ireland's upcoming World Cup
qualifying campaign and is hoping that Giovanni Trapattoni gives him the game time so he can show
some of the excellent form witnessed at club level last season.
The Derry born winger saw only 14 minutes of competitive action for Ireland in the European
Championships but is keen to claim a starting berth in the qualifiers which starts away to
Kazakhstan in September.
The Republic of Ireland 2012/13 Umbro home kit was unveiled earlier this week. It will be The Boys in Green first choice shirt during the initial part of their 2014...
Drury women's soccer coach Alf Bilbao has announced the signing of Ciara
O'Brien to a national letter-of-intent to compete for the Panthers beginning with the
2012-13 season.
O'Brien is a defender from St. Angela's Ursuline in Waterford City, Ireland. She has represented
Ireland in the U14, U15, U17 and currently at the U19 levels, and competed in the U17 European
Championship final against Spain, as well as in the U17 World Cup.
Republic of Ireland striker Kevin Doyle told a press conference that the squad has been "taking the piss out of" James McClean after his controversial Twitter activity following Friday's win over Kazakhstan. Sunderland star McClean took to the social networking site to vent his frustration at being left on the bench, but Doyle says there [.
Both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland produced poor performances on Friday night in
their opening World Cup qualifiers of the new campaign.
The North travelled to Moscow to face Fabio Capello's Russia.
West Bromwich Albion 2-0 Everton Premier League 1st September 2012
Everton's superb start to the season came crashing to a halt at the Hawthorns on Saturday,
courtesy of another impressive display by Steve Clarke's charges.
LA Galaxy striker Robbie Keane chose last night's friendly against former club Spurs as the perfect
opportunity to unveil his new inappropriate touching tackling technique. The Republic of Ireland
international had a quick grope of midfielder Jake Livermore rather than opting for one of the more
proven methods of dispossessing an opponent.
Republic of Ireland and Nottingham Forest striker Simon Cox score's a screamer from distant
against Wigan in the League Cup last night unfortunately it was only a consolation goal as Wigan
advanced 4-1.
A terrific little player, Damien Duff has decided to hang up his boots for the Republic of
Ireland after picking up his 100th cap at Euro 2012. The move by the 33-year-old comes hot on the
heels of Shay Given's decision to do the same.
The gifted wideman has enjoyed a fantastic club career with Blackburn, Chelsea, Newcastle and
his current club, Fulham, although it's probably fair to say that he never quite hit the heights
that his talent, back at the turn of the millennium, hinted at.
After three weeks of voting, the 1995-6 Republic of Ireland goalkeeping jersey has been selected by
the public as the worst European national football shirt of all time. Registering 23.8% of the vote
in the survey held by scotts Menswear, the purple, yellow, orange and green monstrosity comfortably
topped the poll of over 500 voters.
Stats, stats, everywhere a stat. Blocking out the scenery and breakin' my mind. Do this, don't
do that, can't you read the stats? Here's the most interesting of the diligently crunched numbers
from Euro 2012 (Spain feature quite highly)...
Spain and Italy, the two Euro 2012 finalists, emerged from the same group, each dispatching the
two survivors from the fear-inspiring Group B, with Portugal and Germany falling by the wayside.
Now, they play for the second time this tournament with a chance to claim European bragging rights
ahead of the next World Cup qualifying cycle.
Spain vs Portugal Preview: Can CR7 and his men trump the world champions? - originally posted on
Soccerlens.com
The Euro 2012 semi-finals swing into action on Wednesday night, with world champions and red-hot
favourites Spain taking on their Iberian neighbours Portugal for a place in the final.
Mario Mandzukic, on the back of an excellent performance for Croatia in the Euro 2012
Championships, has been signed by Bayern Munich from VfL Wolfsburg for an undisclosed fee.
Mandzukic managed to score twice in Croatia's opening game against the Republic of Ireland, and
then managed to find the goal once again against Italy.
Spain, Portugal, Germany and Italy evaluated ahead of Euro 2012 semi-finals - originally posted
on Soccerlens.com
16 teams made the Euro 2012 finals, but after competitive group stages and quarter-finals, four
footballing heavyweights remain. Spain, Portugal, Germany and Italy are all dreaming of glory in
Ukraine and Poland, as Soccerlens examines their campaigns to date.
Robbie Keane and the Republic of Ireland endured a difficult few weeks during their time at Euro
2012. The Irish lost all three of their matches, but the brave efforts they displayed were not lost
on their proud supporters.
Tragedy also struck the Irish while in Poland, when a 21-year old Irish fan fell into the river
Brda and drowned.
A rather tragic story to come out of the Euros this summer, if arriving by way of China: an
exceedingly passionate fan has perished due to a multitude of reasons, including and especially the
exhaustion which results from 11 days without sleep. All a result of the timing of the Euros.
There really needs to exist some sort of movement, a support system to alter their thinking, for
those who refuse to watch games on tape delay.
After scoring for the Galaxy against the Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday night, Republic of
Ireland captain Robbie Keane paid tribute to James Nolan, the 21-year old Ireland fan whose body
was found at the bottom of a river in Bydgoszcz after accidentally drowning while out in Poland to
support his national team.
Katie Taylor did the nation of Ireland proud with her gold medallist performance in the London
Olympics, and in truth no-one really came close to beating her. But she could be in for a change of
career? Taylor used to be a football player and made 15 appearances for the Republic of Ireland
women's football [.
Tommy Smith made a welcome return to theIpswichTownside today after
hisNew Zealandteam were knocked out of the Olympics.
The Oly Whites ended their London 2012 experience bottom of the group, but that won't have been too
disappointing for the side which also included Chris Wood (BristolCity) and Ryan Nelsen (QPR).
Spain remain on the top spot, England moves up to third place, and Brazil drops down to 13th
place in the latest FIFA Men's World Rankings. The team making the biggest jump in the top 30 are
Ecuador who are up seven spots to number 20. The United States, who have usually been in the top
30, are at 36 and three points by Serbia.
Not that they matter one iota, but England have moved up into third place in FIFA's World
Rankings an all-time high despite not playing a single competitive game in the month of July.
Yep. Due to whatever ridiculous algorithms FIFA use to construct their pointless dung heap,
now only Germany and all-conquering reigning World and double European champions Spain are above
Roy Hodgson's boys in the standings.
It's definitely the end of term at the Britannia Stadium. Following the pasting Michael Owen's Merc received, Stoke's squad have now allegedly turned to leaving dead animals in each other's lockers. Kenwyne Jones reportedly went to his locker today only to find a pig's head inside. The finger of suspcion imeediately pointed to Republic of [.
Birmingham and Republic of Ireland player Keith Fahey has tweeted a picture to show-off his early moustache-growing progress to celebrate Movember. The midfielder has had an excellent first week as he grows a handlebar moustache for cancer awareness. In fact, such good progress as he made that people have questioned whether he might have breached [.
Sunderland star James McClean is lucky his international career before it's really started,
according to Republic of Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni. The 23-year-old took to Twitter to
vent his anger at being left on the bench during Ireland's 2-1 win over Kazakhstan on Friday
evening. He claimed the decision not to use him was a [.
New eras begin in earnest at both West Bromwich Albion and Liverpool on Saturday's first day of the
new Premier League season.
Both clubs have during the summer undergone changes in management following the respective
departures of now-England boss Roy Hodgson and Kenny Dalglish.
There has in fact been a strange managerial symmetry between the two clubs over recent years after
Hodgson joined West Brom following his sacking at Anfield while new head coach Steve Clarke
previously worked as Dalglish's assistant.
Football, like many sports, is a game of adrenaline. It makes sense, therefore, that many of its
players seem to be risk-takers who enjoy high-octane thrills. This could explain why so many
footballers have turned to gambling, sometimes during their careers to let off a bit of steam, and
in other cases taking on a second career in gambling after they retire.
