Ireland international Ciarán Clark admits he has to keep his Aston Villa spot if he is to secure a place in Ireland's 23 man squad for the Euro 2012 finals in Poland.
Clark, who can play in central defence or midfield, has recently regained his Villa spot in a holding midfield role.

Ireland will be based in Gdynia in Poland for Euro 2012, the Football Association today confirmed
Giovanni Trapattoni and Marco Tardelli visited Poland this week to sign off on the base camp for the finals.
Gdynia is located in the Pomeranian region of Poland and is part of a metropolitan area around the city of Gdansk, known as Tricity.

Ireland confirmed their place at next summer's European Championships with a 1-1 draw against Estonia in the second leg of their Euro 2012 play-off.
Already four up from the first leg, Ireland looked to be coasting when Stephen Ward fired home the opener after keeper Pavel Londak failed to hold Kevin Doyle's header.

Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena confirmed in a conference call today that with Ireland 4-0 up in their Euro 2012 playoff series against Estonia and all but assured of qualification, he had asked Coach Giovanni Trapattoni if he would be willing to let the Galaxy striker miss Tuesday's second leg with MLS Cup looming Sunday.

With just two matches left in the qualifying process for the 2012 European Championships, the Republic of Ireland remain in with a very real chance of getting to their first major tournament since the 2002 World Cup.

Thierry Henry and France's controversial- and undeserved- win meant heartbreak for the Boys in Green in the 2010 World Cup play-offs.

Mamma mia We always assumed that if Keith Andrews slammed a 25-yard piledriver past Gianluigi Buffon, the universe would implode. But it would appear that isn't the case. The Blackburn midfielder opened the scoring for the Republic of Ireland as they secured a surprise 2-0 victory over coach Giovannio Trapattoni's native Italy.

Mamma mia We always assumed that if Keith Andrews slammed a 25-yard piledriver past Gianluigi Buffon, the universe would implode. But it would appear that isn't the case. The Blackburn midfielder opened the scoring for the Republic of Ireland as they secured a surprise 2-0 victory over coach Giovannio Trapattoni's native Italy.

"It's a 11 month holiday" was Trapattoni's damning verdict after Anthony Stokes pulled out of Ireland's squad for the Carling Nations Cup. Gio couldn't understand Stokes' reason for not playing and for him 'fatigue' didn't count as a valid reason.

Much the same way, England and more specifically Stuart Pearce couldn't understand that Wilshere playing his first full season as a top flight footballer in the Premiership could also be tired.

"It's a 11 month holiday" was Trapattoni's damning verdict after Anthony Stokes pulled out of Ireland's squad for the Carling Nations Cup. Gio couldn't understand Stokes' reason for not playing and for him 'fatigue' didn't count as a valid reason.

Much the same way, England and more specifically Stuart Pearce couldn't understand that Wilshere playing his first full season as a top flight footballer in the Premiership could also be tired.

Welcome to a daily feature that I'll be writing for the foreseeable future (if anyone actually likes it). I intend it to be a light-hearted roundup of some of the more amusing events that football has to offer. After all, the game's supposed to be entertaining, isn't it? Today we kick festivities off with.

Hello readers, this is post is actually not my work, it's a contribution from a person that some of you may be familiar with: Steven, who used to write for the Palermo Offside. His story is about one of his favorite players, Dario "The Bison" Hübner, probably one of the most underrated strikers in calcio in the mid to late 90's and early 2000's.

-Jason Davis
There might not be a better way to sum up this Robbie Keane-related news from Ireland than the way the inimitable Phil Schoen did on Twitter (which is how I learned of it, hence a hat tip goes to Phil, whom I suggest you follow).

It might be the first time a big name player has been told a move to MLS would help him STAY on the national team.

The Football Association of Ireland today announced that tickets for the forthcoming Carling Nations Cup match against Wales in Aviva Stadium on February 8 will go on sale on Monday through www.ticketmaster.ie and the FAI Umbro stores in Carrolls Westmoreland St and Suffolk St, Dublin.
Tickets for neutral supporters attending the clash between Nigel Worthington's IFA team V Scotland, Carling Nations Cup match on February 9 will also go on sale through www.